


Time and Time Again

by AccioStories



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon deaths, F/M, Hogwarts, Marauders, Marauders' Era, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-05
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-03-16 12:05:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 92,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3487619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AccioStories/pseuds/AccioStories
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During the battle at the Department of Mysteries, Hermione is knocked unconscious. When her old DADA professor wakes her up, and tells her to run, she takes off and goes through an unfamiliar door. Little did Hermione know, the door she goes through sends her 20 years into the past. Eventually RL/HG.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Department of Mysteries

**Author's Note:**

> Time and Time Again
> 
> A/N: So, this is my first actual fanfiction. I’ve been meaning to write this one for a while now and I finally got around to outlining the majority of it. I just want to make a few things clear about what is going on. This story starts at the very end of Order of the Phoenix, meaning Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows have not happened yet. That means I feel no guilt changing what happens in those two years because they never happened in the universe I’m creating. Also, everything that has happened in the books up until OotP is completely canon and there are no changes from the original story. You will not find out half way through the story that Draco and Harry are dating, Ron dyes his hair black and joins a punk rock band, or that Ginny is infatuated with Pigwidgeon. No nonsense like that. That being said, I hope you all enjoy reading this and hopefully this story isn’t completely awful!
> 
> (Also, I originally started posting this on ffn but the tagging system on here is better so I'm posting it here as well)
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They belong to the one and only J.K. Rowling. But hey, a girl can dream…

**Time and Time Again**

* * *

Chapter 1 - Department of Mysteries

* * *

 

It was a trap. This entire mission was a trap! She had a feeling it was all along but, for the first time in her life, Hermione was angry at the fact that she had been right.

Hermione, Harry, and Neville were now hiding under desks, deep in the Department of Mysteries, as Death Eaters stormed into the room. It was dark and the only light in the room came from a glittering bell jar on the far side. She could just make out the outline of Harry under the desk in front of her but she did not have the faintest idea which one Neville had taken refuge under.

“Check under desks,” grunted one of the Death Eaters. 

A pair of legs moved in front of her and she trembled. The legs continued until they got to the desk that Harry was under. She aimed her wand and was about to shout a spell when Harry stuck his wand out from under the desk and yelled, “ _Stupefy!_ ” The form under the black robe crumbled to the floor as the other jumped out of the way. He bumped into her desk and that’s when he noticed Hermione. 

A gasp escaped her lips as she tried to maneuver herself out from under the desk so she could take aim but she hadn’t moved fast enough. The killing curse had barely formed on the Death Eater’s tongue when a shape threw itself at the Death Eater’s legs and knocked him down. _Harry._ Hermione was shaken and just stared as Harry and the Death Eater struggled on the ground.

“ _Expelliarmus!_ ” cried a voice from behind her.

Hermione turned to see Neville standing behind an overturned desk. He had a wild look in his eyes but his expression quickly changed to horrorstruck as both Harry and the Death Eater’s wands flew to the opposite side of the room. There was a struggle as the Death Eater scrambled to get his wand with Harry right behind him.

“Get out of the way, Harry!” yelled Neville. Harry dove to the side as Neville yelled another spell. “ _Stupefy!_ ”

The spell had just missed. The jolt of red light flew past the Death Eater’s shoulder and smashed into a cabinet. The glass doors exploded where the spell hit and the cabinet crashed to the ground and shattered. Hermione shielded her eyes as shards of glass flew everywhere.

Realizing it was now or never, Hermione crawled out from under the desk. Harry, who was still wandless, ducked behind a desk as the Death Eater retrieved his wand. As the Death Eater turned to face him his mask slipped down his face and blocked his vision. He blindly tried to shoot a spell at Harry when Hermione stood up and screamed, “ _Stupefy!_ ”

She watched as the Death Eater froze in place. His wand slipped from his hands and, slowly, his body began to fall towards the bell jar. She expected the bell jar to break when his head hit it but instead it seemed to mold around his head.

It was one of the most horrific scenes Hermione had ever seen. She gave her head a little shake and then raised her wand and yelled, “ _accio_ _wand!_ ” Harry’s wand flew through the air and she caught it in her other hand. She turned to face Harry and threw him the wand.

“Thanks! Right, let’s get out of -” began Harry, but he never got to finish.

“Look out!” yelled Neville with an expression of pure horror.

The three of them turned to face the Death Eater with the bell jar on his head. Their wands were raised but they just stood there and stared, open-mouthed, at him. His head shrank into the size of a baby. It then started to grow back and once it reached its normal size, it shrunk again. A shout from a room nearby followed by a crash and scream broke them from their trance.

Harry’s head shot up and he yelled, “RON?” He whipped around and faced away from the baby-headed Death Eater, “GINNY? LUNA?”

Hermione, however, had not stopped looking at the horror that was the baby-headed Death Eater. He had finally managed to pull his head out of the jar but it stayed as a baby. “HARRY!” she yelled as he started thrashing towards them. To Hermione’s amazement, Harry raised his wand to send a spell at the Death Eater. Appalled, Hermione yelled, “you can’t hurt a baby!”

Harry gave her an exasperated look and the three of them started to run from the room. They managed to get into what looked like a small, dark, and cluttered office. They slammed the door behind them and, as Hermione was about to seal it shut, two Death Eaters burst through the door.

The Death Eaters hurtled towards them and shouted, “ _Impedimenta!_ ” The three of them were blasted off their feet. Hermione flew into a bookshelf with a crash. As she hit the floor, heavy books fell on top of her knocking the wind out of her. She struggled to sit up and saw that Harry and been thrown into the stone wall and Neville was nowhere to be seen. A sharp pain went through Hermione’s head as she tried to stand.

Finally, Hermione was able to pull herself off the ground just in time to see a Death Eater attempted to call out their location.

“ _Silencio!_ ” she yelled, and the Death Eater’s voice was cut off mid yell. The other made a growling noise in the back of his throat as he pushed past his fellow Death Eater towards Hermione with his wand raised.

“ _Petrificus Totalus!_ ” yelled Harry.

The Death Eater’s arms snapped together and he fell over like a board.

Hermione turned and beamed at Harry. “Well done, Ha–”

But at that moment, the silenced Death Eater made a sudden movement with his wand and shot out purple flames. The flames hit Hermione square in the chest. As she looked down a tiny “oh!” escaped her lips. She could feel a sensation of falling and blackness was taking over her sight. The last thing she was aware of was Harry screaming her name before darkness engulfed her.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

The next thing Hermione was conscious of were strong arms shaking her.

“Hermione! Hermione, please wake up!” said the voice with a sense of urgency.

With a groan, her eyes fluttered open. Staring down at her was Remus Lupin.

“Hermione… thank God!” He sighed in relief. “We need to get you out of here. Do you think you can stand?”

“I-I don’t know…”

He took hold of her and lifted her to her feet. Dizziness overcame her and she fell back into Lupin’s arms. After a moment she regained her balance and was able to stand on her own.

“Are you okay, Hermione?” he asked with a strained voice.

She glanced up and saw his face clearly. His usual calm composure was broken. She looked into his eyes and where she expected to see compassion and comfort, she only saw fear and pain. They appeared to be glassy with tears.

“Professor? What’s wrong, what happened?” whispered Hermione. She had a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach. Like someone had force fed her polyjuice potion.

He just looked at her and shook his head.

“Just listen to me. You have to get out of here. Find the others and go. I need to go after Harry,” replied Lupin and he starts to pull Hermione towards the door.

“Go after Harry? Please, just tell me what’s going on. Where is everyone?” asked Hermione as she looked at her unfamiliar surroundings.

He sighed and stopped walking causing Hermione to trip from the sudden stop. He turned to face her and looked her right in the eyes.

“Harry went after Bellatrix. She sent a curse at Sirius which sent him through the veil. He’s gone…” Lupin’s voice caught on his last word.

Emotion overcame Hermione. No… _no…_ Sirius couldn’t be gone… Harry needs him.

“Oh Remus…” whispered Hermione.

The use of his first name seemed to snap him back to reality. He stared at her with such intensity that she thought it might kill her.

Suddenly, a Death Eater stormed into the room.

Before Hermione knew what was happening, Lupin shoved her to the ground and jumped in front of her, sending spells at the Death Eater.

“Hermione go! Run!” he yelled back at her.

She scrambled to her feet and started running to the first door she could see. Once at the threshold she turned back and saw the Death Eater and Lupin in a duel. Both of them were shooting colorful spells at one another. She reached for her wand, desperate to help, and realized it wasn’t there.

“ _Stupefy!_ ” yelled Lupin, and the Death Eater collapsed. He turned to see Hermione staring wide-eyed in the doorway. “Go!” he yelled at her.

At that moment two more Death Eaters came into the room and faced Lupin. Hermione turned and ran through the door and didn’t look back.

The hallway in front of her was unfamiliar. Like most hallways in the Department of Mysteries, it was dark and cold. She had absolutely no idea where she was going. Turning a corner, she continued to run down the corridor, trying to open each door as she went. One after another, she found that they were locked. Finally she got to the end of the hallway. She was panting when she stopped in front of a golden door with a black handle.

Hermione yanked at the handle and was surprised when the door flew open. It was pitch black in the room. She took a hesitant step forward and realized, too late, that the room was empty space. There was no floor at all. All she could do was scream as she plummeted into the darkness below her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: The beginning section of this chapter is paraphrased from Chapter 35: Beyond the Veil in Order of the Phoenix. I just changed it from Harry’s perspective to Hermione’s and the dialogue is taken directly from the book.


	2. A Familiar Face

* * *

Chapter 2 - A Familiar Face

* * *

 

Hermione could hear voices around her but she could not bring herself to open her eyes. None of the voices sounded familiar to her. They sounded worried and distant. Before she could give it a second thought she fell back into unconsciousness.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

Around her there was complete silence. The voices she heard earlier were gone but something felt different. She could sense that someone was watching her. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

She was in a plain room with white walls and tiled floors. A window was open and letting in a warm, but refreshing, breeze. She looked down and saw that she was in some sort of hospital bed. Next to her was a small bedside table with a potted plant on it. Hermione paused to stare at it, double checking that it was just a normal plant and not Devil’s Snare. Old habits die hard… Besides her was wooden chair and in that chair sat, none other than, Albus Dumbledore. His blue eyes gleamed at her through his half-moon spectacles.

“Professor Dumbledore?” croaked Hermione.

“It’s great to see you’re finally awake,” said Dumbledore with a smile.

“Where am I?” she knew it was a stupid question as soon as it escaped her mouth. It was rather obvious where she was.

“You are currently in St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Fourth floor, room 413A, to be specific,” said Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eye. He sat up straighter and stroked his long beard. “You’ve been here for five days. We were quite worried about you.”

“Where is everyone? Are they okay?” asked Hermione. She then gasped, “Oh my gosh, Harry!”

At this, Dumbledore frowned. “I’m not sure I’m following… If you feel comfortable, could you recall what you remember about how you got to be in the Department of Mysteries?”

“But sir, you must already know. Didn’t the others tell you?” squeaked Hermione. She could feel panic beginning to boil in her blood. Using her arms, she tried to sit farther up. Her head whirled and she slumped back down into her pillows.

Dumbledore sighed. “Maybe we should start at the basics.” He gave her a warm smile, “We’ll start with your name. Everyone around here has been speculating about who you are but with no luck. For the time being, they’ve been referring to you as the unconscious girl from the Department of Mysteries.”

“But Professor Dumbledore, why didn’t you tell them who I am?” Hermione’s voice shook as she asked this. She could sense that something was very wrong.

“Because, my dear, I haven’t the faintest idea of who you are.”

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

The shock of what Dumbledore had said was too much for Hermione. Once again, her vision faded out to black.

When she came to, it was night and the window had been shut. Nevertheless, Albus Dumbledore remained in the chair next to her bed.

“Oh good, you’re awake once again,” said Dumbledore with a friendly smile.

“Sir, something is very wrong… Why is it you don’t remember me? Why doesn’t anyone know who I am? Why aren’t any of my friends or family here with me?” whispered Hermione, her eyes filling up with tears.

“I was called here because several unspeakables stumbled upon a girl, unconscious, deep in the Department of Mysteries. No one knew who you were or where you came from so they sent for me hoping that maybe I could identify you since you are of Hogwarts age. Alas, I could not place you,” said Dumbledore softly. “My dear, I want you to tell me the last thing you remember.”

So she did. She told him how she was hit with purple flames and knocked unconscious by a Death Eater. How Lupin had found her and told her to run while he fought off more attackers. That she had wanted to help but her wand was gone. That she had no idea where she was going as she ran through the corridors of the Department of Mysteries. When she got to the part about the golden door and falling into black, empty space, Dumbledore’s eyes flickered with realization.”

“Do you know the date?” asked Dumbledore.

“Well,” started Hermione. “We went to the Department of Mysteries on June 18th. You said I’ve been here for five days so that would make it the 23rd.”

She looked at her headmaster is confusion, wondering why the date seemed to matter.

“And do you know the year?” asked Dumbledore tenderly. 

“Of course I do, it’s 1996!” exclaimed Hermione.

Sadness was visible in Dumbledore’s eyes as he looked at Hermione. “The Department of Mysteries is a very strange place… Even I am not aware of all the happenings that ensue there. It seems to me Miss—”

“Granger… Hermione Granger…”

“It seems to me, Miss Granger, that the room you entered may have sent you back in time. Twenty years if I am not mistaken.”

There was silence between them. Hermione stared hard into Dumbledore’s eyes trying to find a hint of humor behind them. But why would Dumbledore make this up?

Finally, Hermione spoke. “That can’t be possible… I can’t be in 1976. I haven’t even been born yet! There must be some mistake…”

Dumbledore looked at her with pity in his eyes. “I wish it were, Miss Granger.” He pulled out a daily prophet from his bag and gently handed it to Hermione.

She grabbed it and stared at the date: June 23, 1976.

“No… no, this can’t be happening!” choked Hermione, tears pouring down her cheeks. She gave Dumbledore a desperate before burying her face in her hands.

The only thing Dumbledore could do was to wait for her to calm down. After about fifteen minutes she took a deep breath and looked Dumbledore right in the eye.

“You must think I’m crazy,” snorted Hermione.

“On the contrary, you seem to be a very sane young woman who is handling a most unpleasant situation with extreme poise,” replied Dumbledore with the faintest of smiles on his lips.

“What am I supposed to do?” whispered Hermione with wide, teary eyes.

“I will do everything in my power to try to find a way to send you back but, I must warn you. So far there is no form of magic, that I am aware of, that will send you to the future, only magic to send you to the past.”

“Where will I go?” she breathed.

“For the time being, you can stay at Hogwarts, if you would be so inclined. It would be no trouble at all. I would hazard a guess that you are beginning your sixth year, are you not?”

Hermione just nodded.

“Excellent. Once you are cleared by the Healers I will take you with me back to Hogwarts where we will further discuss the manner of your predicament. For now, rest.”

Closing her eyes, Hermione put her head back down on the soft pillows. She willed herself to fall asleep and hoped that the next time she wakes up all of this will have been an awful dream.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

Two more days passed and Hermione’s Healer finally agreed to let her leave. Dumbledore arrived late that afternoon and brought with him plain black robes which he gave to Hermione to wear on top of the torn up clothes she was found in. He gave get a few minutes alone to change and get ready to leave. After she changed she looked around the room. She had no possessions with her, not even her wand, so there was nothing to take with her. She sighed and walked out of the room she had been staying in for the past week and saw Professor Dumbledore waiting for her.

“Ah, Miss Granger, are you ready for our departure to Hogwarts?” he asked with a smile.

“Yes, I believe so, sir.”

The two of them walked through the main lobby of St. Mungo’s. Hermione’s eyes widened as she noticed some of the patients around her. While she was there, she had been kept in her own private room so, she hadn’t seen anyone else. Although she had been to St. Mungo’s before, it was strange to see all the magical injuries people somehow obtained. There was a man with bite marks going up his right arm. In his left hand he was clutching what seemed to be a book, struggling against his grip. It was probably a copy of _The Monster Book of Monsters,_ a textbook in which she used in her third year, or a book of the same likeness. An older witch was at the front desk complaining loudly to the person behind it. The top of her head was engulfed in blue flames where her hair should have been. She didn’t seem to be in pain but she was unquestionably distressed.

Dumbledore lead her to the front of St. Mungo’s and they passed through the entrance and into the streets of muggle London. She turned to look at the building in which she walked out of. It was a brick red department store named Purge and Dowse, Ltd. Even after being a member of the wizarding world for five years, it was things like this that still amazed Hermione. Only wizards would think of hiding a huge hospital disguised as a department store on a busy muggle street.

Dumbledore lead her further down the road. People gawked at them as they walked by. To muggles, Dumbledore must have been an interesting sight to see. His long white hair and beard, which reached past his belt, were not even the strangest part of his appearance. He had chosen to wear an exquisite set of purple robes and a matching cap, which drew a lot of attention from the muggles on the street. They turned into an alleyway about four blocks away from St. Mungo’s and stopped.

“If you would please hold onto my arm, Miss Granger,” said Dumbledore.

Hermione looked up at him. He gave her a reassuring smile and Hermione grabbed hold of his arm. Immediately, Hermione could feel her stomach lurching as they apparated. When she opened her eyes she noticed they were at the edge of Hogsmead. The Hogwarts gates were not far from where they stood. They silently started walking towards the gates.

“I trust you are familiar with Hogsmead?” he asked her.

“Yes, sir. It appears to not have changed much in the past 20 years or, I guess, future years,” said Hermione.  The rest of the journey was silent.

Together, they walked up to the castle and into the majestic entrance hall. To Hermione’s surprise, everything looked exactly the same as it had in her time. She wasn’t even sure why this came as a surprise to her. The same torches, that Hermione remembered, lined the stone walls. The only difference was that the marble staircase seemed to be a bit cleaner than she remembered, but she might have been just imagining that. The four hourglasses by the large oak doors were empty, rightfully so, since the school year had ended.

“It’s a shame the healers did not let you leave earlier,” stated Dumbledore. “Yesterday was the end of term feast, it would have been nice if you could have participated.”

“I think it is better that I’m here now that all the students have gone home, Professor. Best not to draw attention to myself, with me being from the future and all…” replied Hermione.

Dumbledore chuckled, “too right you are, Hermione. It is getting late, I think you should get settled in. We will meet tomorrow morning to discuss your situation. I trust you know your way to the Gryffindor common room? You can move into the sixth year dormitory for now and I will have food sent up for you.”

“You know what house I’m in?” questioned Hermione with a raised eyebrow. She couldn’t remember if she had discussed that with him or not.

He smiled down at Hermione, “my dear, it is written all over you. I have no doubt in my mind that it is the house you belong to. The password is ‘Arcanam Tempus’. I will send for you in the morning. Goodnight, Miss Granger.” With a smile, he walked off with his purple robes flowing behind him.

Hermione walked to the grand staircase and admired the familiar view. Hogwarts had always seemed like a second home to her. It was the first time in her life she had friends that wanted and accepted her. But now she just felt emptiness. She walked up to the seventh floor and stopped in front of the portrait of The Fat Lady.

“Ah yes, Dumbledore told me you were staying here. He didn’t, however, say why,” said The Fat Lady, eyeing Hermione. She leaned forward, “why is it you’re at Hogwarts after term?”

The little patience Hermione had with The Fat Lady was nonexistent in that moment. She sighed, “Arcanam Tempus.”

The Fat Lady narrowed her eyes, “Not very friendly, hmpf!”

The door swung open and Hermione climbed through the portrait hole. On the table, by one of the armchairs, was a tray with sandwiches. Next to it was a jug of pumpkin juice, a glass, and a bottle of butterbeer. She took the tray and sat in her favorite chair by the fire and ate slowly. It was so strange being in the common room alone without the usual sound of chatter.

Finally, she couldn’t take the silence any longer. She ran up the stairs to the girls dormitories and found the bed she usually sleeps in. She pulled off her robes and crawled under the covers. As she tried to sleep, all she could think about were the people that made Hogwarts her home. Their faces swarmed through her vision. Harry, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George, Luna, Neville, and Hagrid; even Draco would make this horror more bearable. What she would give to see a familiar face, even if it was the ferrety face of Draco Malfoy. Her eyes shot open as visions of her parents faces appeared in her mind. Would she ever see them again? After hours of just lying there, and a few tears, Hermione finally drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this. Sorry the pace of the chapter seems a bit slow. Oh, and the common room password “Arcanam Tempus” roughly translates to “Mysterious Time” in Latin. Thought you ought to know.


	3. The Side Effects of Time Travel

* * *

Chapter 3 - The Side Effects of Time Travel

* * *

A tapping sound roused Hermione the next day. Peeking through her eyes, she saw that the dormitory was flooded with sunlight. She lifted her head up to see that the tapping noise was coming from an owl outside one of the dormitory windows. Hermione swung her feet off her bed and walked barefoot across the wooden floor. She pulled the window open and the brown owl landed on the windowsill and placed a letter in Hermione’s hand. Hermione shut the window, as the owl flew away, and walked back to her bed and sat down. She sighed and opened the letter and began to read:

_Dear Ms. Granger,_

_I hope your first night back at Hogwarts, after all of these strange events, was welcoming. As I stated yesterday, I request that you come see me in my office so we can further discuss what we shall do about your situation. I trust you know where to find my office. The current password is “Fawkes”. I hope to see you soon, however, there is no rush._

_Sincerely,_

_Albus Dumbledore_

Hermione read the letter a few times and then set it down. She pulled on the robes Dumbledore had given her and silently exited the dormitory. It was still an eerie feeling having the Common Room empty in the middle of the day. It was so quiet that Hermione could clearly hear the ripple of the flames in the fireplace as she passed it. She made her way out of the portrait hole and starting walking. As she walked she could feel the portraits watching her. They whispered to each other, obviously wondering what she was doing in the castle alone during the summer. Hermione kept her nose up high and did not make eye contact with any of them as she made her way to Dumbledore’s office.

When she arrived in front of the large stone gargoyle, that guarded his office, Hermione hesitated. She had no idea what to expect. Taking a deep breath, she looked up at the ugly gargoyle and, in the clearest voice she could muster, said, “Fawkes”.

The gargoyle moved aside opening a pathway to a circular, moving, stone, staircase. Step by step Hermione climbed the moving stairs until she reached two large wooden doors. Right as she was about to knock the doors swung open revealing the Headmaster’s office.

It was a large circular room with spindly tables holding silver instruments whirring all around the tower. Books from Dumbledore’s private library lined the walls. The walls themselves were covered in portraits of old Headmasters and where there wasn’t portraits there were windows letting in beams of morning sunlight.

Albus Dumbledore was sitting in a large chair behind a rectangular desk. He smiled warmly as he spotted Hermione.

“Ah, Miss Granger, come in come in,” said Dumbledore waving her inside.

Hermione shuffled out of the doorway and made her way to the desk. She sat in the chair opposite Dumbledore and waited for him to speak again.

“In my letter I stated that you did not have to rush over here if you did not wish to,” he said with his eyes peering over his half-moon spectacles at Hermione.

“Yes sir, however, I didn’t really have anything else to do…” she replied.

Dumbledore smiled, “I guess that is true. So why don’t we get right down to business?”

Hermione nodded and Dumbledore continued, “You are starting your sixth year at Hogwarts, or you should be in your own timeline. I see no reason for you to not continue your studies while you are here. That is, if we cannot find a way to send to back before September comes.”

“So you want me to be a student, Professor?” asked Hermione, raising her eyebrow.

“That is, if you are willing,” replied Dumbledore. “To be very honest, the chances of finding a way for you to go back to your current time before September seems very slim. This is very tricky magic we are dealing with. Time is not something that is meant to be tampered with.”

“Yes, I’m aware of that sir. During my third year I was given a time-turner to take more classes. I was told of the dangers of messing with time.”

Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled at this information. “You seem to be a very bright young witch, Ms. Granger. Not many thirteen year olds would be issued a time-turner. Then again, not many thirteen year olds would want to take extra classes.”

Hermione flushed, “Thank you, sir.”

“You may be aware of the dangers of changing things in the past by using a time-turner but that is for events that happened only hours ago. This is twenty years and could have drastic outcomes if not handled with care. Have you ever heard of Eloise Mintumble?”

“No sir, I haven’t” frowned Hermione.

“She was an unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries back in 1899. During that time, the Ministry was doing time traveling experiments. They believed that they could figure out a way to send people back in time for more than just a few hours, but to send people years into the past. Eloise Mintumble was the witch that they decided to send. They managed to send her back to the year 1402 where she became trapped. They had no way to bring her back. She spent a total of five days in 1402 but it was enough time for her to permanently damage parts of her timeline, and others,” said Dumbledore with a grave voice.

“Permanently?” asked Hermione, wide-eyed.

“Yes. They finally managed to bring her back to her current time however, her body had aged the five centuries she had been gone. It also seemed that twenty-five people, who were the descendants of the people she came in contact with, became un-born. They vanished from the present into nothingness. That is when the Ministry decided to stop experimenting with time travel.”

“So what you’re saying, Professor, is that I might age twenty years if I get sent back to my normal time… and other people might vanish?” asked Hermione.

Dumbledore leaned forward in his chair and started stroking his beard. “It is a possibility. It is helpful that you only traveled twenty years and not five centuries. That way you would not die if you did age. In the case of people vanishing, the way I see it is that if you do not purposely do something, knowing it will change the future, it should not do too much damage. I believe that the things you do most likely will not have any real effect on the future and things will happen as they should. Think of it as a stream. One ripple in the water might change things temporarily but eventually things return to how they should be. I do not wish to keep you locked up to prevent time from being altered. You just need to use precaution while you are here.”

“You said that they managed to bring her back. So that means it’s possible to send me back to 1996, right?” asked Hermione.

“There should be a way to do it. It would be very difficult. I will spend as much time as I need to make sure you return safely to your timeline. The Department of Mysteries should have records on how they got Eloise Mintumble back from 1402 however, I want to discover a way to send you back without aging you.”

“So until then I’ll just be living here at Hogwarts? I’ll be a student?”

“Yes. And I must urge you to not tell anyone that you are from the future. Do not give away any information about the future. Not to anyone, even myself.”

“But sir,” said Hermione remembering her conversation with Dumbledore the other day. “I’ve already told you things that have happened in my timeline.”

“That is fine, Miss Granger,” said Dumbledore waving his hand. “Just try not to say anything from here on out. I’m the only one that knows you’re from the future and it is imperative that it stays that way.”

“Where will everyone think I came from then?” asked Hermione.

“Ah, that is another matter I wished to discuss with you. We’ll have to create a cover story. One about who you are and why you are starting Hogwarts in your sixth year.”

Hermione sat back in her chair and began to think. She kept going over names should could use as a cover. Not to forget a reason to explain why she hasn’t been attending Hogwarts for the last five years but still knowing a great deal of magic. After a few minutes of thinking she looked up.

“I think I should keep most of my personal details the same. For example, I should still say that I’m muggle born with two dentist parents. I think to change that and create an entirely new persona might be too difficult to keep up. I might slip and say the wrong thing,” said Hermione.

Dumbledore smiled. “You have the chance to be anyone and yet you stay true to yourself. You are a remarkable young lady, Ms. Granger. Now, the matter of you not going to Hogwarts until now. I originally was thinking we could say you did private wizarding studies at home and your family did not wish for you to attend Hogwarts however, that contradicts with the fact that you are muggle born. We could say you were raised in England yet moved before you started your education. That way, you attended another wizarding school instead of Hogwarts and your family has recently moved back.”

“I think that might work, sir. I’d just have to do a lot of research on that school incase people question it,” said Hermione.

“Since Durmstrang does not accept muggle born students I think your best bet would to say you’re either from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic or from the Brazilian Wizarding School. Both are somewhat similar to our own school and curriculum,” mused Dumbledore.

Relief flooded Hermione’s head when Beauxbatons was mentioned. “Beauxbatons might be easier to get away with. I already know a great deal about them and it seems more believable to move to France and back rather than Brazil.”

“It is settled. You will be a transfer student from Beauxbatons,” smiled Dumbledore.

“It’s also a great reason for me to be here at Hogwarts over the summer. I can say I needed to take the O.W.Ls since they don’t take them until their sixth year!” beamed Hermione.

Dumbledore chuckled. “Speaking of the O.W.Ls, you must have just taken them in your time yet we’ll never find out what your scores are for another twenty years.”

“That’s terrible! I studied so hard! How will I know what classes to take?” said Hermione looking horrified. “Could I take them again this summer?”

“If you’d like to I can arrange that to happen. Would a month’s preparation be sufficient?”

“Yes, that’s plenty of time, sir,” replied Hermione

“On that note I think we should end this meeting. I’ll have course syllabuses made up for you in case the curriculum differs from the one you know in 1996. That way you can study and go over what you need to since you do not have your notes on you. I shall send for you at a later point.”

“Thank you professor,” said Hermione as she stood up. “For everything”.

She turned and started to leave the office. As she was approaching the doors something popped into her head and she whirled around.

“My wand!” she gasped.

“Ms. Granger?”

“I haven’t got a wand anymore,” replied Hermione

“I will see if your wand has already been made. If so I will borrow it until you return to your old time. That way it will still be at Ollivander’s when you go to purchase it when you’re eleven. What wand is it?” asked Dumbledore.

“10 ¾", vine wood and dragon heartstring,” said Hermione in a small voice.

“Very well,” said Dumbledore. Hermione turned to leave when Dumbledore spoke again, “Oh and Ms. Granger?”

Hermione stopped and looked back, “Yes, sir?”

“Try to come up with a different last name by the end of today. I’d like to know what to introduce you as to the professors and I think it would be better to use a different name in this time period than your own surname.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you again for everything,” said Hermione as she rushed out the door.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

For the rest of that evening, Hermione spent her time looking through the course details and notes she had found waiting for her in the common room after she returned from Dumbledore’s office. Most of the material was surprisingly the same as it is in her time. Some of it actually seemed a bit simpler but that might just be because this was now her second time studying for the O.W.Ls.

Same as the day before, Dumbledore was sending food up to the Gryffindor common room. Shortly after dinner an owl from Dumbledore came with a note reminding her to come up with a new surname so he could talk about her with the other professors. It took Hermione a couple minutes and a few good pecks from the owl to realize it was not leaving without a response.

After thinking about names for a while, Hermione finally came up with a last name she did not hate. From now on, she would be Hermione Dawson: The muggle born witch that spent the last five years at Beauxbatons Academy. She quickly scribbled the name down for Dumbledore and gave it to the owl. With a hoot, the owl swooped out the window and was out of sight.

Hermione closed the window and went back to sitting in her favorite chair by the fireplace. She was happy to have course work to throw herself into to distract herself from how lonely she was feeling. Unfortunately the coursework did not distract her from everything. Hermione could not stop thinking about Eloise Mintumble and how she had aged the amount of time she had been gone. Would she really age twenty years if Dumbledore found a way for her to return to 1996? She also couldn’t help shake the feeling that she might be responsible for certain people being un-born. She would have to be extremely careful when it comes to the school year.

After a few hours of studying, worrying, and a small amount of dozing by the fireplace, Hermione found that she was exhausted. She went up to the dormitory and collapsed in her bed and quickly fell asleep, hoping that maybe tomorrow things will start to look brighter.


	4. The Never Ending Summer

* * *

Chapter 4 - The Never Ending Summer

* * *

The next day around lunchtime Hermione made her way to Dumbledore’s office. When she arrived and opened the door she realized that he was not alone. Sitting across from him was a woman in emerald green robes with her black high tied into a bun. She seemed to be in a deep conversation with Dumbledore. Hermione took a step back to give them privacy when the floorboards creaked. The woman stopped talking turned to look at Hermione and revealed a stern looking face.

“Professor McGonagall?” gasped Hermione. She looked the same yet entirely different. She still had that stern look in her eyes but her face seemed softer and younger.

Professor McGonagall’s eyebrow raised at Hermione’s remark and Dumbledore bowed his head giving Hermione a warning look. Hermione cleared her throat and quickly tried to correct herself.

“Sorry, you must be Professor McGonagall. Professor Dumbledore told me I’d be meeting you today,” quickly lied Hermione as she walked across the room to shake Professor McGonagall’s hand.

“Did he now?” asked McGonagall. She stood up to shake Hermione’s hand and sent a quizzical look towards Dumbledore.

“I’m Hermione Dawson,” Hermione said with a small smile.

Professor McGonagall looked her up down as if she were trying to figure something out. “It is very nice to meet you Ms. Dawson. I had heard from portraits that we had a student staying here over the summer and I suppose the rumors are true. It is nice to finally be introduced to you. Professor Dumbledore was just telling me that when you arrived the Sorting Hat placed you into Gryffindor?” McGonagall’s eyes drifted to the shelf behind Dumbledore’s desk.

Hermione’s eyes followed McGonagall’s and saw the Sorting Hat sitting on the top shelf. “Ah, yes. I was sorted into Gryffindor,” said Hermione, returning her glance back to Professor McGonagall.

At that, Professor McGonagall smiled. “We need more Gryffindor girls. Incase Professor Dumbledore failed to mention it, I’m the Gryffindor Head of House. I am also the Transfiguration professor so you will be seeing a lot of me.

“I look forward to it, professor,” smiled Hermione. It was comforting that her favorite professor was here with her in this timeline. Even if she had no idea who Hermione was.

Dumbledore looked at the two of them with a hint of a smile before speaking again. “As I was telling you, Minerva. Ms. Dawson here is an incoming sixth year transferring from Beauxbatons Academy. She is spending the summer here so she can take the O.W.L before term begins. Being that Beauxbaton takes their Ordinary Wizarding Level exams after their sixth year and not fifth.”

“That’s wonderful,” replied McGonagall. She turned to Hermione. “Which courses will you be taking your examinations for?”

“Well, I plan on taking it for Transfigurations, Charms, Potions, History of Magic, Arithmancy, Herbology, Defence Against Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, Study of Ancient Runes, and Astronomy. Those are the subjects I’ve been studying.”

McGonagall looked taken aback. “All of those courses?”

“Yes but I’m very certain that I can handle them,” said Hermione with confidence.

“I’m sure you can, Ms. Dawson” replied McGonagall narrowing her eyes. “Anyway, I must be going now. If you need anything while you stay here do not be hesitant to ask.”

“Yes, thank you Professor.”

Professor McGonagall strode towards the door and turned back towards Dumbledore. “Albus,” she nodded.

“Have a wonderful day, Minerva,” chimed Dumbledore as Professor McGonagall closed the doors behind her.

Hermione waited a moment before sitting down across from Dumbledore. “Do you think she was suspicious, sir?”

“Professor McGonagall is very inquisitive but she is not nosey. She trusts me so there shouldn’t be a reason for her to try to find out if you have a secret if she thinks I am in on it. But I do have good news, Ms. Granger,” replied Dumbledore.

“I could use some good news…” mumbled Hermione.

Dumbledore chuckled, “I was able to get in contact with Mr. Ollivander and he has, in fact, already made your wand. He sent it over this morning.”

Dumbledore opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a long box and handed it to Hermione. With wide eyes she took it and carefully opened the box. Inside was the wand she purchased when she was eleven. It was the first thing that finally made her feel like a witch. The first thing that finally made her feel special. Hermione reached into the box and gripped her wand firmly in her hand. A warm and powerful feeling spread through her body at its touch and tears came to her eyes.

“Thank you, Professor Dumbledore,” sniffled Hermione with a choked laugh. “This really means a lot.”

Dumbledore smiled warmly at her. “I also have another thing here for you,” he said while reaching into his desk drawer once again. He pulled out a small brown pouch and placed it on his desk in front of Hermione.

“What’s this?” asked Hermione staring at the pouch and then back at Dumbledore.

“It’s money for you to use while you are here. This is just a small portion of it.”

“Oh no, sir! I can’t!” gasped Hermione.

“Please, Hermione,” smiled Dumbledore. “It’s extra Hogwarts funds that are meant to be spent on students in need. You certainly cannot expect me to let you walk around forever in the same clothes you were found in and one set of robes.”

Hermione looked down at the clothes she was wearing and frowned.

“Furthermore, your clothes do not exactly look like they belong in this time. The money is also for books and whatever else you need. I will issue you an allowance once a month to keep you settled and comfortable.”

He picked up the pouch of coins and handed it to Hermione.

“Thank you, sir,” muttered Hermione. She felt awful about taking handouts but there was nothing else she could do. She obviously needed a new set of clothes.

“Now, since you are not technically a student, as of yet, you are free to leave Hogwarts grounds as you please. Hogsmeade is at your disposal. Just remember what I said yesterday. Try not to standout and be careful about what you say to people.”

“Yes, Professor Dumbledore. I understand.”

“I will not try to bother you for the duration of your stay this summer. You need to both study and relax. You have a lot to adapt to. I will usually be in my office if you need me and I am also here if you just want a familiar face to talk.” Dumbledore was smiling warmly at her but there was something strange in his expression. Pity was glistening in his eyes.

“I’ll pay you back for the money, sir.”

“Nonsense, Ms. Granger. Just remember this while you are here; you have the entire castle to yourself. Try not to hide away in the common room. The library is open as well as the locker rooms for the Quidditch pitch, if you so wish. Try to make the best of it.”

And Hermione was going to do just that.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

Later that day, Hermione left the castle and started to make her way to Hogsmeade. It was absolutely beautiful out. It wasn’t too hot and the sky was clear and blue. As she walked, a warm breeze ruffled through her uncontrollable hair making it messier but she didn’t mind. She was alone with her own thoughts while admiring the scenery around Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. The walk was the first time since she left 1996 that she felt at peace.

There didn’t seem to be many people about in Hogsmeade. At least not people of Hogwarts age, that is. Hermione held her head up high as she walked through the village and tried her best to try not to stick out. She spent a good portion of the afternoon shopping at Gladrags Wizardwear searching for new clothes and robes to buy. After she was content with what she bought she went back out to the main rode of Hogsmeade.

She walked up and down the road and looked into the windows of the shops. It was amazing to see how familiar the small town was to her. Her initial thought of Hogsmeade looking the same as it did in her time was spot on. As she passed The Hogshead she felt sadness overwhelm her. Only just a few months ago her, Harry, Ron, and all of her other friends created Dumbledore’s Army in that very pub. Her stomach seemed to tighten as she longed to go inside and look around but she remembered Dumbledore’s warning. Don’t stick out. She’d stick out like sore thumb if she walked in there. Instead, she continued to stroll around Hogsmeade.

After a while of walking around, Hermione went into the Three Broomsticks. It was crowded compared to the rest of Hogsmeade and its warm interior was comforting to Hermione. She made her way through the crowd of people and ordered a Butterbeer at the bar. She sat at the table that she, Harry, and Ron would usually sit at and she closed her eyes. Memories flooded into her brain of the two boys. It hurt to think about them and how there’s a chance she’d never see them again. Her boys. The only real friends she ever had. Ron’s face flashed in her mind and her heart started to ache.

With Harry and Ron on her mind, Hermione grew more determined than ever to figure out what had happened to her. She got up from her table and left the Three Broomsticks and walked up the path and back to the castle.

When she arrived, she ran up the flights of stairs and into the Gryffindor Common Room and dropped her bags off in her dorm before returning to the grand staircase. She made her way to the library and spent the rest of the night painstakingly researching time travel and trying to find something that would give her a shred of hope to let her know that one day, maybe, she’d be able to return home to the people she cared about.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

That first night endlessly researching in the library was long but it did not compare to the following weeks. The first month alone at Hogwarts was the loneliest Hermione had ever felt. Before Hogwarts, she never really had many friends and usually spent time by herself and yet she never felt as utterly alone as she did now. She did the only thing she knew to pass the time. Study. She spent as much time as she could in the library. Whether she was researching time travel or studying to retake her O.W.L exams, the library was where she was.

She met with Dumbledore a few more times over the first month as he introduced her to more professors. It helped that some of her professors were the same as during her time such as Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, Professor Sprout and Professor Binns. Unfortunately, Hermione had a feeling that Professor Binns was probably just as boring twenty years ago as he was in her time.

During the week of her O.W.L retakes the only thing on her mind was throwing herself into her work. Each of her written exams seemed to fly by. It also helped that she was the only one taking the exams. She could leave once she finished instead of having to stay and wait for everyone else. The practical exams went by just as quickly for that same reason.

The next few weeks dragged on for Hermione. With her exams behind her, she just spent most of her time researching. She had practically spent every second of free time in the library and she had not even read half of the books in the library on time travel. She wasn’t any closer to finding a way home.

A week before term started Hermione received her O.W.L results. Nine Os and one E for Defence Against the Dark Arts. She’d have to thank Umbridge for that one.

The rest of the week flew by compared to the rest of the summer. The night of August 31st Hermione laid in bed staring at the ceiling. She had no idea what to expect of tomorrow when the students arrived. Her nerves were eating her alive but she felt that there was something else she was feeling. Excitement? Well, whatever it was, it caused her not to be able to sleep.

After a while she grew restless. She pulled herself out of bed and slid her feet into her new slippers, grabbed her cloak, and stole out of the common room. It was after midnight and the castle was dark and cold. The torches in the hallways were dimmed and most of the light came from the moonlight shining in through the windows.

She doubted anyone would care if they spotted her out this late and she didn’t care if someone did see her. She just wanted to walk around to clear her head. And technically there wasn’t a curfew yet since term hadn’t started.

She just walked and walked, alone with her own thoughts, when she realized that she was on the 7th floor near the Room of Requirements. Tears filled her eyes and she smiled at the memories of Dumbledore’s Army with all of her friends. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath trying to stop the tears. Thinking of them was too painful.

_I just want to go home…_ she thought.

When she opened her eyes a door had appeared on the wall in front of her. Hermione gasped. It wasn’t the usual door that they used when they had D.A practices but there was no mistaking what the door was. Tt was a door Hermione would never forget. After a moment’s hesitation, Hermione grabbed the door knob and pushed the door open.

The smell was what she recognize first. She inhaled the aroma of her favorite tea, chocolate, and a hint of lemon furniture polishing. The room was an exact replica of the sitting room of her home. This time Hermione couldn’t control her tears. She choked out a sob and slowly walked around the muggle home she had grown up in with her parents.

Everything was exactly the same. There were pictures of her from over the years on top of the piano and above the fireplace. Pictures of her parents’ smiling faces. They were completely still just like all the pictures muggles took and to Hermione that was perfect. As she walked around the room she stroked the furniture just to feel if it felt the same, and it did.

She walked down the hallway and saw her bedroom door. She pushed it open slowly and sighed as she entered her lilac room. On the table next to her bed was the only magical picture she had. It was a framed picture of her, Ron, and Harry, sitting on the floor in Ron’s room at the Burrow. Harry and Ron were playing wizard’s chess while Hermione was reading a book. It showed the three of them deeply involved in what they’re doing until they realized Ginny was taking their picture. The three of them looked up at the same time and started to smile and laugh at the camera.

Hermione picked up the frame and held it close to her chest and she sat down on her bed. Tears continued to spill down her face. The crying and walking around had exhausted her and she didn’t want to leave the comfort of her bedroom from home. She kicked off her slippers, removed her cloak, and crawled under the covers. Carefully, she placed the picture frame back on the side table, along with her wand, and quickly fell asleep.


	5. Unexpected Classmates

* * *

Chapter 5 - Unexpected Classmates

* * *

Hermione woke up to the sound of an alarm clock. She pulled her head up and for a second was confused by her surroundings. She was in bed at home.

_It must have all been a nightmare,_ she thought with relief as she slammed her hand down on the alarm clock next to her bed to stop it from ringing. She took a deep breath and tried to laugh the nightmare off. Then she got a glimpse of the calendar hanging above her desk and turned back to the little blue clock on her nightstand and she sat up with a start. It was 10:15am on September 1 st. She was going to miss the Hogwarts Express.

With a small yelp, Hermione threw herself out of bed, grabbed her wand, and yanked her slippers on. She didn’t bother changing from her pajamas, she could change on the train. Her trunk sat packed at the foot of her bed and she grabbed it and ran out of the room. Thank goodness she was already packed and ready to go. Why hadn’t her parents woken her up? Surely they knew what day it was.

“Mum! Dad! I’m going to miss the train!” Hermione yelled as she ran from her room and entered the living room but she was surprised to see that it was empty.

Hermione put down her trunk and ran into the kitchen but found it empty as well.

“MUM! DAD?” called Hermione yet, they were nowhere to be seen.

Hermione’s heart hammered in her chest. Where could they have gone? On the granite kitchen counter she saw a notepad. She took a pen and ripped off a slip of paper and quickly scribbled a note:

_Dear Mum and Dad,_

_I woke up late for the train and I have no idea where either of you are. I need to dash to King’s Cross Station, there’s no time for me to wait for you guys (wherever you may be). I wish I could have said goodbye in person. I love you both loads and I’ll write as soon as I get to Hogwarts. I’ll see you for Christmas Holiday_

_Much love,_

_Hermione_

With the note in hand, she stuck it to the refrigerator with a magnet and then ran back into the living room and grabbed her trunk. Behind her, the old grandfather clock chimed signaling that it was half part ten.

“Bloody hell…” moaned Hermione. Oh great, now she was starting to sound like Ron.

If she moved quickly enough, she might be able to take the London Underground to King’s Cross Station and make the train… if she was lucky. Thirty minutes was definitely not a lot of time. How could she have been so stupid not to wake up early enough? And where on earth were her parents?

With her heart still pounding, she ran to the front door of her home, while tugging her trunk behind her, and swung it open and hurried through it. That’s when her trunk vanished.

Hermione looked down at her hand in astonishment and then looked up. Around her were stone walls with large windows letting in sunlight. Not the small quiet street she grew up on. She was standing in the seventh floor corridor outside of the Room of Requirement.

She turned around with just enough time to see the front door of her house disappear back into the wall. At first, Hermione was frozen where she stood with shock. Slowly, she sunk down to the floor and the shock turned into grief.

How could she have forgotten she was in the Room of Requirement? It was terrifying how real everything had felt in there. It explains why the trunk disappeared, it didn’t exist outside of the room. Her house didn’t even exist like that yet. None of it did.

The dream she thought she was having wasn’t a dream at all. The real dream was her believing, just for a few minutes, that she was home, safe and sound.

Her nightmare was still happening.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

The rest of the day was spent with Hermione tidying up the common room and girls’ dormitory. Books were piled everywhere and some of her clothes were scattered around. She had let herself get a little too comfortable staying there alone.

Initially, Hermione wanted to stay away from the feast to not draw much attention to herself but Dumbledore insisted. They came to the conclusion that Hermione would blend in with the students as they entered the castle instead of making an awkward and unnecessary grand entrance.

 

When the time came, Hermione left the common room, in her Gryffindor robes, and made her way outside of the Great Hall. She stood behind a large suit of armor, out of sight, and waited.

After a few minutes she could hear the echo of voices off the stone walls as students poured into the room and made their way through the large doors of the Great Hall. Hermione took a deep breath and walked right into the herd of students, completely unnoticed.

The Great Hall looked breathtaking for the feast. The ceiling, which was bewitched to resemble the sky, was a dark navy with streaks of purple. It was a cloudless night and the quarter moon was giving off a ghostly light, and the stars twinkled with each step she took. Above her thousands of candles floated around in midair giving the feeling that the Hall was glowing. Even after all the years Hermione spent at Hogwarts its beauty never failed to fill her with wonder.

Not many people were there yet and Hermione wished she had waited a bit longer to enter so she didn’t look so obvious standing alone. A few people were looking at her with quizzical looks so she quickly made her way close to the back of the Gryffindor table and sat down. More and more people came into the Great Hall and it started to fill up quickly.

“Do you mind if I sit next to you?” asked a kind voice from behind Hermione.

She looked around and saw a pretty girl about her age with dark red hair smiling at her. 

“Of course, you can sit wherever you’d like to,” replied Hermione. Something about this girl seemed very familiar but she couldn’t place her.

The girl’s smile widened and she sat down to Hermione’s right. Around them, the seats began to fill up but no one seemed to notice the two of them. The other students seemed too preoccupied with seeing their friends again.

“You’re Hermione aren’t you?” asked the red haired girl.

Hermione’s mouth fell open and she looked at the girl in shock before quickly closing her mouth.

“Don’t worry,” laughed the girl at Hermione’s expression. “Professor Dumbledore pointed you out to me and told me you were a new transfer student. I’m one of the Gryffindor Prefects.”

“Oh!” said Hermione, “It’s nice to meet you.” She got a better look at the girl and noticed her bright green eyes. They were shaped like almonds, just like Harry’s—Oh!

“My name is Lily Evans,” she smiled and held out her hand.

Hermione’s heart was beating very fast. She tried to hide her surprise as she shook Lily’s hand. She was talking to Harry’s mother! This could not be happening… How could she have been stupid enough to not realize that she would be at Hogwarts with people she might know in the future?

“Hermione Dawson,” Hermione replied weakly. This was too much to take in, her head was spinning.

“So, you’re coming from Beauxbatons, right?” asked Lily.

Hermione just nodded.

“This must seem so strange to you,” sighed Lily. “We don’t really get transfers here at Hogwarts. Occasionally an exchange student will come but we never permanently get a new student. Why did you transfer?”

“Erm—I grew up in England but when I was ten and a half my parents and I moved to Paris and so I received a letter to attend Beauxbatons instead of Hogwarts.” Hermione paused and Lily politely nodded, encouraging Hermione to continue. “At the end of last term my family moved back to England and I was given the option to either stay at Beauxbatons or to come to Hogwarts, and I’ve read so many great things about Hogwarts, so I decided that it was the best school for me to be at. It’s also a plus that everyone here seems to speak perfect English…” Hermione told her the story she had invented and hoped Lily wouldn’t be suspicious.

Lily just seemed to be in awe. “It was very brave of you to just up and switch school like that. That must be why you’re in Gryffindor.” Lily smiled and playfully nudged Hermione. To Hermione’s surprised, she actually smiled back at Lily.

Hermione was about to thank her when—

“Oi, Evans! It’s a new year, maybe now you’ll go out with me?” called a voice from behind Hermione.

Lily groaned and rolled her eyes. Hermione turned to see a boy with untidy black hair and glasses sitting further up the table, grinning at them with his friends. Hermione’s mouth, once again, fell open. Even if she hadn’t already predicted who had spoken, Hermione would have known who he was in a heartbeat. James Potter looked exactly like Harry. His hair stuck up in the back just as Harry’s did but, of course, the biggest difference was the lack of green eyes and scar but everything else was the same. Everyone always said Harry looked like his father but Hermione never really knew how much they did look alike. It was startling.

James saw Hermione gaping at him and he raised his eyebrow. “Evans, who’s you’re new friend?” he asked, the smile leaving his lips.

“Oh leave me alone, James. You already bothered me on the train, do you really have to bother me now? We haven’t even been back for ten minutes yet,” replied Lily in a drained voice.

The boy next to James howled with laughter and James frowned. Hermione had a good idea who the laughing boy was. She craned to get a better look and saw that he had long thick black hair, which contrasted with his pale skin, and an extremely handsome face. It had to be Sirius. He had a rugged charm about him and he looked fit and healthy. There were no signs of the gaunt looking man she had known in her time. The years he spent in Azkaban must have taken a bigger toll on his appearance than she thought. He looked so… so _alive._ That’s when Hermione remembered what had happened to Sirius right before she fell through time. She thought she was going to be sick.

“That’s James Potter and his best friend Sirius Black. They’re in our year. Practically inseparable, those two. I wouldn’t be surprised if they married each other once we leave Hogwarts,” snorted Lily. “They can be royal arses if you ask me. Remus is the only half decent one in their little group. He’s a Prefect like me. Well, Peter isn’t so bad…”

Lupin and Peter! She turned back to Lily who was giving Hermione a half smile which soon dropped to a look of concerned when she saw Hermione’s face.

“Hermione, what’s wrong?” she asked quietly, leaning in towards Hermione.

What’s wrong? Well for one, she was stuck twenty years in the past with no way to go back. Now, to make matters worse, she was surrounded by people who she knew to be dead, emotionally wounded beyond repair, or a future Death Eater responsible for the previous two things. Why did she think she’d be able to do this?

But of course Hermione couldn’t tell Lily this. Instead, she just shook her head and tried to smile. “It’s nothing, Lily. I’m just—everything is just so different… It’s a lot to take in. New school, new faces and names. I guess I’m feeling a little overwhelmed is all…”

Lily put her hand on Hermione’s shoulder and gave her a comforting smile. She looked like she wanted to say something else but was cut off when the doors of the Great Hall swung open.

Professor McGonagall lead a line of terrified looking first years into the room. Their eyes took in the beauty of the Hall with all of its torches a floating candles. They were looking around in wonder. She could see some of them mouthing “wow!” as they walked down the middle of the room. Many of them were pointing towards the bewitched ceiling that showed the clear night sky and all of its stars. They were all taking in the magnificent sight.

As the first year students walked across the floor, Hermione used it as an opportunity to look back towards James. She was glad that he and Sirius were sitting closer to the front so it wasn’t obvious that she was trying to get a good look at them. Sitting across from James and Sirius was a smaller boy with mousy brown hair. He was round around the middle and had a pointed nose and his bulging eyes seemed to shift around nervously. Anger boiled within Hermione as she looked upon the younger Peter Pettigrew.

Applause exploded around the room, snapping Hermione back to reality. She looked up and saw the Sorting Hat bow to each of the four tables. She had been so far into her own head that she missed the Sorting Hat’s song. The first year sorting was about to begin. She looked around hoping that no one saw her glaring at Peter and was relieved to see that no one seemed to pay her any attention. Everyone was focused on the sorting ceremony.

Professor McGonagall pulled out a roll of parchment and called out a name. A small, nervous looking, blonde boy walked up to McGonagall and sat on the stool. She placed the old brown Hat on his head and after a few moments it roared, “ _HUFFLEPUFF!_ ”  The Hufflepuffs broke into a cheer as the boy leapt off of the stool and walked quickly towards the Hufflepuff table with a relieved smile on his face.

Hermione tuned out the rest of the applause throughout the sorting as she looked back at the boys. Next to Peter was a quiet looking boy with green eyes and sand colored hair. Remus Lupin looked far less shaggy than he did in her time. His face was youthful and lacked the lines and scars it would have in twenty years. His green eyes weren’t nearly as dull and pained looking. Hermione’s heart hurt as she looked at this boy that would grow up to be so wounded and alone. She remember the distraught look on his face when he had found and woken her in the Department of Mysteries. He had just seen his only friend left die and yet his first concern had been to make sure she, Harry, and the rest of them were safe. This was a boy that would lose all of his friends in the world and yet become a man who strived to do the right thing and help others.

Her thought process was broken again when the entire Hall broke into an even louder applause. The sorting had ended and Professor Dumbledore had risen to his feet. There was a twinkle in his eyes as he looked out at all the students with a beaming smile.

“I would like to welcome back all of our returning student and, of course, welcome our newcomers to a fantastic year at Hogwarts!” Dumbledore smiled as he scanned the crowd. His gaze stopped briefly at Hermione and she could have sworn she saw him give her a small wink.

“Now, before I bore all of you about what is expected of you this year, let’s get down to something far more important!”

As if on cue, the tables filled up with delicious foods. Gasps could be heard by the first years and chatter broke out around the room. The feast had begun.

Hermione stared at the Marauders as they chatted and laughed while filling their plates.

“Don’t worry about them, Hermione. They aren’t really as bad as I said they are,” said Lily, misunderstanding Hermione’s curious gaze. She took a sip of pumpkin juice and smiled. “Just focus on how great the food is here!”

Hermione forced a smile back and started to spoon mashed potatoes onto her plate. She had to agree. The feast was wonderful. It felt nice to be back eating in the Great Hall instead of having food sent up to her while she was alone over the summer.

Lily was probably the friendliest person Hermione had ever met. She didn’t push Hermione for details on her transfer but instead spent the rest of the feast telling her what to expect out of Hogwarts and trying to get her to relax. Every now and then Hermione would steal glances back at the boys and always found James staring at her and Lily with a look of confusion mixed with curiosity.

When everyone had eaten until they couldn’t eat another bite, Dumbledore stood up.

“Ah, I hope all of you enjoyed our feast,” smiled Dumbledore, “but now we have to discuss a few things before your Prefects lead you back to your Common Rooms.

“Firstly, for all of you newcomers, I must warn you that the forest on the grounds is strictly forbidden. That goes for our returning students as well.” Hermione watched as Sirius grinned and nudged James who laughed. Remus smiled faintly at the two of them and slightly shook his head while Peter laughed nervously under his breath.

Dumbledore continued, “I need also remind you that magic is not permitted between classes in the corridors. I am also pleased to introduce Professor Felicia Warbeck who graciously accepted to take over the Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons.”

There was a polite round of applause as an unfamiliar short middle aged witch stood up. She had curly brown hair with hints of grey in it. Her face looked kind but also gave the impression that she was not someone you would want to cross. She gave a small wave and smiled before sitting back down.

Lily leaned over to Hermione while she clapped. “It seems that every year we get a new Defense professor. It’s like the job is cursed or something,” whisper Lily while shaking her head slightly.

Hermione stayed quiet. She knew far too well how cursed the position was.

Dumbledore then spoke about Quidditch tryouts and how first years were not allowed their own broomstick. After that he dismissed the school and everyone around Hermione started talking at once as they slowly began to climb out of their seats.

“Gotta go, Hermione,” said Lily who was already standing. She was making her way down the table. “Prefect duties!” she called to back before she seemed to be swallowed up by the crowd of students.

She could hear Lily yelling “Gryffindor first years, follow me!”

Hermione was grateful for sitting at the end of the table. She was one of the first ones out of the Great Hall and into the stairwell. There was no one in sight when she reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

“Arcanam Tempus,” said Hermione to the portrait.

“Not anymore it isn’t,” scoffed the Fat Lady.

The password must have changed when term began. Now she’d have to wait for someone else to come by.

“Need help?” asked a voice from behind her.

Startled, she jumped and turned around. She was staring into the green eyes of sixteen year old Remus Lupin. He was giving her a shy but friendly smile.

“I was— the— the password changed,” said Hermione pointing back at the Fat Lady. “I don’t know the new one.”

“Yes, it tends to do that,” replied Lupin in all seriousness. He smiled and walked past her and stopped in front of the entrance to the Common Room and said, “Owl Feathers.”

“Correct,” stated the Fat Lady and the portrait swung open for them.

“Ladies first,” said Lupin with a mock bow.

Hermione smiled and climbed through the portrait hole and into the warm and cozy Gryffindor Common Room. No one appeared to be there yet. She moved aside as Lupin climbed into the room behind her.

“Thanks for letting me in,” said Hermione. “While I was here over the summer the password was Arcanum Tempus. I guess I wasn’t fully aware it would change…”

“Ah, you must be Hermione Dawson then. I didn’t know that you had stayed over the summer,” said Lupin. “No wonder I hadn’t recognized you.

“Yes, I stayed here to catch up on the Hogwarts curriculum before I started. Let me guess, Dumbledore told you who I was?” said Hermione and young Lupin nodded, the corner of his mouth twitching. His face was actually quite pleasant to look at. She never really noticed what was under all of the scars and lines that he had. “You’re the other Prefect, right? Remus Lupin?”

“That’s right. I’m also a sixth year, like yourself.”

“Lily pointed you out to me at dinner.”

“Yes, I saw her sitting with you. She’s probably the best person for you to meet at Hogwarts. She’s unbelievably kind.”

“That must be why your friend likes her,” said Hermione.

At that, he started to laugh.

“Where is everyone anyway?” asked Hermione, looking around. The other Gryffindors weren’t _that_ far behind her when she left.

“They probably got stuck behind all the first years. They’re usually fascinated by the castle so on the first night they tend to walk extremely slow,” replied Lupin with a shrug.

“Shouldn’t you be with the first year students?” asked Hermione all of a sudden. Her inner Prefect seemed to be coming out.

“Lily and I had a deal that she’d bring them up here and I’d show them around the common room,” said Lupin. He turned towards the portrait hole. “In fact, they should be here any moment…”

“Well in that case, I’ll just show myself up to the girls’ dormitory.”

Lupin turned back to Hermione and frowned. “You don’t want to be here when the rest of the house gets here? I could introduce you to a lot of people.”

“No really, it’s fine. I’m exhausted anyway. This was a lot to take in all at once. It’s so different from what I’m used to,” said Hermione, and it wasn’t even a lie.

“Oh, well if you need anything Lily and I are here…”

“Thanks,” said Hermione and she started towards the stairs before turning around again. “Oh, Remus?” It felt odd calling him by his first name.

He had sat down in an armchair by the fire, waiting for the students but his head shot up when she called his name. “Yeah?”

“Thanks again for letting me into the Common Room,” smiled Hermione. She hurried up the stairs and closed the dormitory door behind her.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

Hermione was sitting on her bed going through her class books to make sure she had all of them together for when classes started tomorrow. She had the dormitory to herself for about twenty minutes before the door opened. Lily walked in along with a girl with dirty blonde hair braided down her back. When Lily saw her she smiled and waved and pulled the girl over to Hermione.

“Hey Hermione! This is Mary Macdonald. Mary meet Hermione Dawson,” said Lily.

“Nice to meet you, Hermione,” said Mary politely.

“Same to you, Mary,” replied Hermione.

There was an awkward pause and Mary gave Lily a confused look before returning her gaze to Hermione.

“Oh, right! Mary, Hermione just transferred here from Beauxbatons Academy. She’s been sorted into Gryffindor and is in our year,” explained Lily.

“Ah, I was wondering why there was a strange girl in our dormitory,” said Mary, smirking.

Lily turned back to Hermione and smiled. “For the past five years it’s just been Mary and me in this room. It’ll be nice to have another girl around.”

“It was just the two of you?” asked Hermione. She thought back to her own time when there had been five girls in her dormitory. It must have been a little strange only having two.

“Yeah, it was very quiet,” laughed Mary. She seemed friendly enough.

“Well, I just came up here to introduce Mary to you. We’re heading back downstairs for a little while. There’s always a little party the first night back,” said Lily. “You should come with us. I can introduce you to a bunch of other Gryffindors. I’m sure they’ll love you.”

“Thanks but I think I’ll head to bed early. Today’s been a strange day for me…” Hermione smiled apologetically. “I’ll meet more people tomorrow.”

Lily tried to hide her disappointment. “Alright, I understand. We’ll be back up later to unpack our things. If you decide you want to come we’ll be right down stairs.”

Hermione waved as Mary and Lily left the room.

It sure had been a strange day… None of it seemed real. How could she be in school with Harry’s parents, Sirius, Peter, and Lupin? Well, I guess she’d have to get used to referring to him as Remus. It would take a while for her to start feeling comfortable doing that. Before today, she had only called him by his given name once, and that was when he was grieving in the Department of Mysteries. She shook the memory from her head.

If all of these people were here as students with her that must mean… no… Snape must be a student here as well…

Hermione groaned and rolled over, stuffing her face in her pillow. She had no idea how she was going to get through tomorrow with her unexpected classmates. It would have been hard enough to have to explain herself to the students here but she never expected to be explaining herself to people she will know in the future.

She moved off her bed and put her books away before changing into her pajamas. She pulled her curtains shut before hopping back into bed. Sighing, she leaned over and blew out the candle next to her and slowly drifted off to sleep.


	6. Gossiping and Trolls

* * *

 

Chapter 6 - Gossiping and Trolls

* * *

The next morning Hermione was the first one to wake. The curtains were pulled shut around two of the beds and she could hear the faint sound of rhythmic breathing as the other two girls slept. The dormitory wasn’t fully lit but, through the window, Hermione could see that the sun was slightly visible as it peaked over the horizon into the pink morning sky. Hermione silently dressed, trying not wake Lily or Mary, and left for breakfast with her school bag slung over her shoulder.

It was still early and the Great Hall was very quiet. Only a few small groups of people were there and they were spread across the four long tables, all looking very tired. Hermione sat down towards the middle of the Gryffindor table, away from any of the groups. She guessed that most people must still be asleep. Lazily, she scooped up some eggs but just ended up pushing them around her plate. She didn’t feel like eating. Glancing upwards, at the ceiling, she saw that the sun still had barely risen but she was pleased to see that it was a clear day. There was nothing more depressing than having the first day of class on a miserable day. Then again, having the first day of class being stuck twenty years in the past seemed pretty awful.  At least it wasn’t raining.

Hermione continued to mindlessly play with her eggs while more and more students made their way to breakfast. She wasn’t as lucky as the day before; people had started to notice her. They stared and whispered to each other, wondering who she was. She was obviously the topic of discussion that morning. It was a chain reaction. The whisperers didn’t seem to make an attempt to hide their gossiping, causing more people to follow their glances towards her. It was as if she were on display. Is this how Harry always feels?

Feeling her cheeks turning red, she looked down at her plate and tried to make her messy brown hair hide her face from view. It obviously wasn’t effective because a moment later she could see the feet of two people stopped in front of her. 

She looked up to see Lily and Mary standing on the other side of the table.

“Can we join you?” smiled Lily. Her auburn hair was pulled out of her face with a headband making her green eyes seem even brighter.

“Sure,” said Hermione automatically. She didn’t really want company but she had no idea how to turn the two girls away without sounding rude.

“You were asleep when we got back last night and then we woke up this morning to find you gone,” said Lily as she buttered a piece of toast.

“Yeah, I woke up early and didn’t want to disturb you guys so I just came straight to breakfast,” shrugged Hermione.

“How was your first night at Hogwarts?” asked Mary. Her hair seemed more golden under the bewitched sky than it did in the candlelit dormitory the previous night.

“Oh, it wasn’t my first night,” said Hermione.

“It wasn’t?” asked Mary tilting her head to the side.

“No, I stayed here during the summer to take the O.W.L.”

“You were here alone? That sounds dreadfully boring if you ask me,” said Mary.

“It was but I didn’t have much of a choice,” stated Hermione.

Suddenly, hundreds of Owls swooped into the room and dropped letters and packages to their owners. Hermione half expected to see an owl carrying her copy of the Daily Prophet before remembering that she wouldn’t have a subscription in 1976.

At that moment, Professor McGonagall was going up and down the Gryffindor table handing out class schedules. A loud groan came from both James and Sirius, down the table, as they looked down at the parchment they were each handed. McGonagall had just reached the three girls and handed them their schedules and Hermione glanced at it curiously. At first she didn’t understand why the boys had groaned. The only class they had that morning was Transfiguration with the Hufflepuffs but as her eyes slid down the paper she saw why. After lunch they had potions with the Slytherins.

“Yes!” Lily looked up, beaming. “Our first class is Transfigurations!”

“That’s her favorite class,” smiled Mary. Lily did a small sort of dance in her seat and Hermione couldn’t help but grin.

“Transfigurations should be everyone’s favorite class!” said Lily. “You’ll love it too, Hermione.”

Mary was still looking at her schedule. “Potions shouldn’t be that bad. I wish we had it we had it with the Ravenclaws though…”

“Oh stop it, Mary,” said Lily rolling her but she was smiling. “It’ll be fine.”

The eggs that Hermione had been playing with were now cold so she pushed them to the side and grabbed a banana muffin instead, she didn’t have much of an appetite. She nibbled on it as Lily and Mary ate their breakfasts. Ten minutes later they seemed to have finished.

“We should get going,” said Mary, standing up, “I refuse to be late on the first day. McGonagall would skin us. You coming, Hermione?”

The three girls made their way out of the Great Hall. Hermione stayed a step behind Mary and Lily who were chatting casually. She was feeling awkward and like a third wheel. It didn’t help that she kept remembering that Lily was Harry’s mother. Every time she looked the red haired girl in the eyes she was given that reminder. Something about it always felt wrong.

When they reached the Transfiguration classroom, most of the students were already there. Eyes fell on Hermione and the students began to whisper to each other like they had at breakfast. She tried her best to ignore them as she took a seat next to Lily. Luckily for Hermione, Professor McGonagall demanded respect in her classroom and the moment she stood up to begin teaching silence fell and the class seemed to forget about Hermione. From that moment on, the class went by smoothly with only the occasional glance in her direction.

Lunch was the opposite. News must have already spread about Hermione being a new student because as soon as she and Mary walked into the Great Hall peoples’ heads turned. Unlike breakfast, it wasn’t just a few people looking. It seemed to be everyone. Hermione held her nose up high and tried to ignore the lot of them.

Lily had disappeared right after Transfigurations. She had promised she would meet a friend outside of their class and have lunch with them, so it was just Hermione and Mary. Not long after they sat down, a group of Hufflepuff girls called Mary over to sit with them.

“Do you mind, Hermione?” asked Mary nervously as she glanced over at the other girls.

“No, go sit with them, it’s fine.”

“Are you _sure_? I could stay, or you could come sit with us.”

“No really, Mary, I’ll be fine. Please, go sit with your friends,” smiled Hermione.

Mary gave Hermione a quick smile before crossing the Hall and joining her friends. Hermione welcomed the peace and quiet. When she was alone she was able to pretend she was still in her time. The Great Hall was still the Great Hall and the food seemed to be the same. She would just have to concentrate on those things. No one was there to remind her that she was trapped in the past. Not James’ face looking like Harry’s, not Lily’s eyes, not—

“Hermione!” called a voice.

Hermione jumped a little and looked around trying to find the owner of the voice. To her surprise, the voice had come from Sirius. He was sitting just a little further down the table staring at Hermione with a broad grin on his face. The other Marauders sat around him. Lupin and Peter both were staring politely at Hermione but James’ face was almost unreadable. Almost. It was a look she knew far too well. She had seen Harry with that exact expression whenever he felt as if something were out of place. She wanted nothing more than to run up and throw her arms around him but she had to keep reminding herself that he wasn’t Harry, even if he looked so much like him.

“Oi, Hermione!” Sirius called again, this time louder, causing more heads to turn and whispers to break out around the Hall.

James raised his eyebrow, just as he did last night, and Hermione realized she had just been staring at the four of them instead of responding.

“Y-yes?” Hermione choked out.

“Come sit over here. Remus here tells me you’re new and I’m all about making people feel welcomed,” said Sirius with a wink. Hermione looked at him in shock while Lupin sighed and shook his head.

“You’ll have to excuse my dear friend Sirius. But, you are welcomed to join us, you don’t have to sit alone, you know,” said Lupin in a friendly tone. He looked at his friends, “You wouldn’t mind, right guys?”

Peter shook his head vigorously showing that he was fine with it while James stayed silent.

“Well, _I_ wouldn’t mind,” said Sirius with a wicked smirk. “Come on over!”

“I wouldn’t want to intrude…” said Hermione. In reality she thought it would be incredibly bizarre to be eating lunch with the younger versions of James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin. Not to mention Peter…

“Nonsense,” scoffed Sirius.

“No really, I’m fine where I am. I was about to do a bit of reading before our next class started anyway,” said Hermione, reaching into her bag and pulling out one of her school books and holding it up to show him. “But thanks for the offer.”

Sirius dramatically put his hand to his chest and pretended to be wounded while Lupin laughed.

“Sorry mate, guess she isn’t that into you,” he said to Sirius. He gave Hermione a smile and the boys returned their glances to each other.

The book she had pulled out was _A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration._ Maybe they’d think she was getting a head start on their homework. She flipped to a random chapter and stared down at the page, not really reading. She was more focused on listening to the private conversation the boys started having a few feet away.

“She seems nice…” said Peter quietly.

“She is nice, I told you that last night, remember? When I said I had spoken to her after the feast?” said Lupin.

“If she’s so nice why didn’t she come sit over here,” pouted Sirius.

“It might be because you came on a little strong,” said Lupin. “The girl just got here and you’ve already flirted with her!”

“But no one can resist my charms!” replied Sirius.

“I have to agree with Sirius on this one,” said James quietly. Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione saw the three other boys stared at him in disbelief.

“Uh, James? I think Sirius might have been joking,” Peter said slowly.

“That’s because I was,” said Sirius.

“I don’t know,” said James. He had dropped his voice even lower and Hermione was straining to listen. “Something about her doesn’t seem right.”

“What do you mean?” asked Sirius with a look of confusion.

“Look around you. How many transfers do you see? Hogwarts doesn’t do transfer students.”

“Well they obviously seem to do transfers now if she’s here,” replied Lupin, the corner of his lip twitching.

“I don’t know…” said James. His hand went through his hair making it even messier. “Didn’t you see how she was looking at us last night? It was like she’d seen a bloody ghost…”

“I think you need to calm down, mate,” said Sirius. “She seems perfectly normal to me.”

“What do you know about ‘normal’, Sirius?” smirked Lupin.

“That’s rich come from the one with the furry little problem, aye Moony?” replied Sirius with an odd attempt to wiggle his eyebrows.

“Keep your voice down!” hissed Lupin.

Hermione tried her hardest not to turn and watch them. Still looking from the corner of her eye, she could see Lupin quickly checking his around him to make sure no one heard. No one had, except for Hermione, but she didn’t really think it mattered since she already knew he was a werewolf. Of course, they didn’t know she knew that.

“I’m still suspicious,” said James crossing his arms.

“What on Earth are you suspicious of?” asked Sirius.

“She just seems so… comfortable here. It’s the first day of classes and she’s so relaxed. She didn’t even seem frightened of McGonagall during Transfigurations! Everyone is frightened of McGonagall when they first meet her! Plus, she walks around here like she knows the castle,” said James.

“McGonagall isn’t as scary to us older students though, mate,” said Sirius.

“And she did spend the summer here,” Lupin reminded him. “She would have gotten comfortable staying here.”

“You know what I mean, Remus,” said James rolling his eyes. “It takes forever to know your way around here. Yet, she seems a hell of a lot more comfortable here than Peter does and he’s been here for the past five years.”

“Hey!” squeaked Peter, his cheeks flaring with color.

“Sorry Peter, you know what I mean,” said James.

“James, it’s only been a day,” said Lupin.

“Plus she seems to be friendly with Lily. Lily wouldn’t hang out with anyone she thought was up to no good. It’s the main reason she refuses to date you,” said Sirius.

James considered this for a moment before frowning and shaking his head. “I’m telling you, Hermione being here seems wrong. I don’t trust it and I don’t think you guys should trust her either. Not just yet.”

Having heard enough, Hermione slammed her book shut and stood up from the table. Startled, the four boys’ heads shot up and watched her as she stormed out of the Great Hall with her bag in tow.

“I think she heard you, mate,” said a voice but should couldn’t make out whether it was Sirius or Lupin, nor did she care. It was like being back in her first year and hearing the awful things Ron would say about her to Harry. The only difference was is that she doubted a giant troll would be set loose and get them to see her as a friend and not as a nuisance.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

Hermione walked alone to the Potions classroom in the Dungeons once the lunch period at ended. When she arrived she saw that everyone was split into partners and was sharing a cauldron. Towards the middle of the room she saw Mary waving her over to join her. It surprised her that Lily wasn’t partnered with Mary, she wondered who Lily had joined.

After she sat down Hermione’s eyes scanned the classroom and spotted a glimpse of dark red hair sitting at the last table in the front row. She seemed to be engrossed in a conversation with her partner. In the chair next to Lily sat a pale looking boy with long, greasy, black hair and a hooked nose. Hermione’s stomach seemed to drop. It was only a matter of time before she ran into young Snape but she certainly did not expect to see him next to Lily. Hermione just stared. He seemed so much more vulnerable and youthful but there was still something about him that seemed like he’d be a prat.

Almost as if he knew she was thinking about him, he turned to face her and his dark eyes pooled into her brown ones. His eyes didn’t seem as dangerous as they would be but there was still something frightening about them. He turned and whispered something to Lily and she turned and saw Hermione. Her face broke into a grin and she waved. It was strange, Lily was like a glowing ball of light and Snape was… well, Snape…

On the other side of the room sat James. He was also staring at Snape and Lily but with a mixture of disgust and confusion. His eyes drifted to Hermione and his face softened. It was now Hermione’s turn to raise an eyebrow at him but he turned away from her and looked down at his book. She didn’t have much of an opportunity to dwell on the situation because at that moment the professor walked into the room.

Potions was not nearly as bad as it had been in her time. It was actually quite enjoyable. Professor Slughorn seemed to be the opposite of Snape. Not just in appearance but in personality as well. Slughorn was probably around 5ft tall and he was incredibly fat. His bald head was shiny and seemed to reflect light from the torches, making his head look like it was glowing, and his great white mustache caused him to reassemble a walrus. However, he had a kind look in his eyes and seemed to genuinely enjoy teaching.

It was odd comparing him to Snape when the younger version of Snape was sitting only a few desks away. Hermione couldn’t stop watching Lily and Snape working together throughout the class. She could have sworn she actually heard Lily giggle and saw a faint smile appear on Snape’s thin lips. Was he the friend Lily went to have lunch with? Hermione wondered if Harry had any idea that the man that seemed to hate him so much was friends with his mother.

She had a feeling it was something that Harry would probably be better off not knowing.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

Later that night Hermione was curled up in her favorite squishy armchair by the roaring fireplace in the Gryffindor Common Room. It was almost 9pm and she had her Transfigurations textbook on her knees and was silently reading the chapter that had been assigned for homework.

The first day of classes must have taken its toll on many of the students because the Common Room was almost deserted. There was a small group of second years playing Wizard’s chess at a table by the spiral stairs but other than that, Hermione was alone.

Incoming voices were coming from the portrait hole, they seemed to be laughing. Seconds later Lupin walked in followed by Sirius, James, and then Peter, barely making curfew. Lupin gave her a friendly wave while Sirius elbowed James and tilted his head in her direction. James and her eyes met and he stopped walking.

“Hey, I’ll meet you guys up there,” said James to his friends.

“Alright, mate,” said Sirius. He and Lupin immediately walked away but Peter hesitated, he seemed to want to stay with James.

“Go, Peter, I’ll be right up,” said James as Hermione slowly closed her book. Peter sighed and quickly wobbled away, trying to catch up with his friends.

“Do you need something, James?” asked Hermione trying to keep her tone neutral. She felt like a verbal attack was coming and she was not in the mood.

James sighed and walked closer to the armchair Hermione was sitting in.

“Look,” said James, “I wanted to apologize.”

Hermione gave him a hard stare. “Apologize for what?”

“You know… about what I said earlier in the Great Hall…” said James glancing to the floor.

“Oh, the part where you said me being here was strange and that I shouldn’t be trusted?” asked Hermione, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, that part,” mumbled James still staring at the ground.

“Maybe I should apologize,” started Hermione. “Obviously me just _being_ here has threatened you in some way.”

James looked back up and his hazel eyes narrowed. “Maybe you _should_ apologize! For eavesdropping!”

“It isn’t eavesdropping if I keep hearing _my_ name come up in a conversation happening at the same table I happened to be sitting at, James,” said Hermione, rolling her eyes.

The sarcasm levels in the room had risen and it was taking all of Hermione’s willpower not to just snap at James. She had to deal with an angsty Harry all of last year, she would not repeat the same thing with his father. As soon as that thought crossed her mind she realized how weird it sounded and she frowned.

“Well you have to admit that you just showing up here is a little suspicious. Hogwarts doesn’t just let new people in for their sixth year,” said James.

“Maybe you could have asked me about why I was here instead of turning your friends against me! You don’t even know me James!” snapped Hermione. She pulled her legs out from under her and sat up straighter in her chair. “None of your friends seem to have a problem with me, why do you?”

James looked taken aback. “I just want to protect my friends!”

“From what? From _me_?” she had no idea what James was getting at.

“Yes, from you!” yelled James. The group of second years looked up and saw James getting pink in the face. They quickly scrambled to clean up their chessboard and then ran up the spiral staircase.

“What do you possibly think I’m here to do, James?” demanded Hermione. She had jumped out of her chair and was facing James. He was tall, almost the exact same height as Harry was.

“I’m. Not. Sure!” growled James. He huffed in frustration. “All I know is that you come here and you know your way around and you stare at us like you know us. I saw the look you gave us when you saw us last night. It was as if you recognized us! Then there was how you looked at Peter, like you despised him!”

“It was because you look like my best friend!” yelled Hermione. Tears were building in her eyes. “It startled me and it reminded me that I may not see him again for a very long time! Or my other friends! Haven’t you thought about how hard all of this might be for me? I’m new here and, maybe you haven’t noticed, I’m friendless! Sure, Mary and Lily talk to me but everyone already has their group of friends and then there’s me, with nobody! You know me for one day and what do you go and do? You tell people that I shouldn’t be trusted!”

Hermione was now very close to breaking down and sobbing. James seemed to notice this because he unclenched his fists and the anger in his face evaporated. He took a step forward, towards Hermione, and awkwardly extended his arm before letting it fall back down to his side.

“I’m so sorry Hermione… It’s just… bad things have been happening. These aren’t the safest times and I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to the people I care about,” said James. His voice had gotten considerably softer. “I don’t really know who to trust anymore.”

“I’m not asking you to trust me, James. I barely know you. I’m just asking for you to give me a chance,” Hermione said while wiping her eyes. She definitely understood where he was coming from.

There was a short pause where the two of them just stared at each other.

“You said I could ask you about why you came here, care to tell?” he asked softly.

“No,” said Hermione. She gathered up her books in her arms and stuck her nose in the air. “I don’t think you deserve it. Maybe some other time when you’re being nicer.”

She walked directly past James and into the spiral staircase. Sirius, Lupin, and Peter were all listening from the stairs and when they saw her coming they quickly scattered but Hermione pretended not to notice them. She got one last glimpse of James before she went into her dormitory. There was a satisfied look in his eyes and he had the smallest of smiles upon his lips.

Maybe that had been their troll after all.


	7. Uncertainties

* * *

Chapter 7 - Uncertainties

* * *

As the first week of classes ended, Hermione was feeling more relaxed. The longer she was there the less people seemed to care. She was able to walk down corridors and sit in the Great Hall without hearing whispers and seeing people watching her. The novelty of “the new girl” must have worn off. Although, that didn’t stop certain people from asking her nonstop questions.

James had been perfectly friendly ever since their little argument and Hermione had forgiven him pretty quickly. It was very possible that, if there had been a new student during her time, she would have reacted like James had. She was sure that she, Ron, and Harry would have had a very similar conversation if they suspected that the newcomer was untrustworthy in any way. It was true, Hogwarts didn’t just get new transfer students, and it was suspicious. Hermione just hoped that people would accept it and not do any digging.

Not only had he been friendly, James was constantly inviting her to join him and his friends. It might have been a guilty conscience but Hermione had a feeling it had to do with him wanting to learn more about her.

“Tell us again why you decided to transfer to Hogwarts.”

Hermione sighed. She was sitting in the Great Hall for a late lunch that Saturday. There wasn’t as many selections of food at this hour but Hermione didn’t mind. She wasn’t that hungry anyway and was preoccupied with a book.

Only a handful of people were scattered around the Great Hall so when the four Marauders entered the hall it surprised her. It didn’t take them long to spot her sitting alone and they took it upon themselves to join her.

She had been trying to keep her distance from them but it seemed that the more she tried to avoid them, the more they tried to interact with her, especially James and Sirius, and now here they were.

James had only been sitting across from her for less than five minutes before he started asking questions again. His questions were getting a tad bit annoying and she regretting welcoming him to ask her anything to calm his nerves. It wasn’t the asking part that bothered her, it was the fact that he continued to ask the same questions over and over again.

“I already told you, James,” sighed Hermione. She flipped the page in the book she had been reading.

She was a little annoyed that they had found her. It wasn’t like she was hiding, she just didn’t expect many people to be in the Great Hall towards the end of the lunch period. It was one of the main reasons she came towards the very end of lunch. It was especially annoying since it was such a beautiful day. According to the enchanted ceiling above her, there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky, which was rare. Most of the students were outside enjoying the weather, but not James, Sirius, Lupin, and Peter. No, they were there, inside the Great Hall, bothering her.

Lupin was sitting next to her while the other three boys were sitting across the table, with James in the middle. Hermione was very happy that Peter had not been the one that had chosen to sit next to her. His company was incredibly uncomfortable. Not just because Hermione hated him for what he will end up doing in the future, but because every time the Marauders tried to talk to her, he was just there staring and listening, never speaking his own mind. Like he was their puppet or something.

“I’ve forgotten,” replied James crossing his arms and smirking. He was really enjoying this.

Hermione narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms, mimicking James. “What exactly do you want to know?”

“Well for starters,” said James, sitting up straighter, “I don’t understand why you would just leave the school you’ve spent the past five years at. I get that your family moved to France and back but you said that you had the choice to stay at Beauxbatons. I could never just leave Hogwarts like that.”

“I felt like I’d belong better at Hogwarts with me being British and all,” said Hermione with a shrug.

While she stayed at Hogwarts over the summer she had read as many books that mentioned Beauxbatons that she could find. Dumbledore had even held sessions to help her come up with a convincing story. She had rehearsed this story so many times in her head until it felt second nature to her and the words just seemed to flow.

“There were so many different accents and languages being spoken. Even though the school is in France it admits students from Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands, not just France,” said Hermione. “They speak mostly English, and a lot of French, but I never felt entirely comfortable there. Especially since my French has never been very strong, I can speak it but I’m not completely fluent. I was always afraid of messing up and sounding stupid. Plus I read a lot about Hogwarts and it seemed like a better fit for me. I didn’t make the decision lightly.”

James sat there and considered what Hermione said. He nodded slightly as he thought of what he would say next.

“What about friends? Didn’t you have any friends that you had to leave behind by coming here?” asked Lupin in a kind voice. It almost sounded as if he pitied her, but why would he?

For a second she hesitated, she didn’t like to think about Harry and Ron, it hurt her to do so. She also couldn’t actually tell them anything about her friends since they all will know them in some way or another in the future.

“Well…” started Hermione, “I wasn’t the most popular person at school but I had two great friends that I would do anything for.”

“What were their names?” asked Lupin curiously.

“Henry and Rory,” answered Hermione automatically. She knew coming up with alternate names for people in her time would come in handy.

“Your two best friends were boys, eh?” said Sirius with a wink.

Hermione rolled her eyes at Sirius. “I was also starting to get close to Rory’s sister, Jenny. She was a year below us.”

“Seems like you like hanging out with guys,” said Sirius with a cheeky smile, “Have a boyfriend?”

Hermione’s stomach seemed to drop and her mouth became suddenly dry. She took a quick sip from her water goblet and shook her head. There was no denying that she had started to grow feelings for Ron over the years but she didn’t fully understand what they were or meant.

Sirius’s grin widened. “That head shake wasn’t very convincing, Hermione.”

“I don’t have a boyfriend, no,” said Hermione, again, shaking her head slightly, “There was a time when I thought I’d end up with… with Rory, but I don’t think that will ever happen now…”

She looked down at the table as a small force seemed to press on her chest. She honestly did believe that one day she and Ron would end up together but now that she was stuck twenty years in the past it didn’t seem likely. If she stayed here too long it could ruin their non-existent relationship. Well, that is if he even saw her in that way… What would have happened if she had never opened that door in the Department of Mysteries?

“If you had such good friends why didn’t you stay at Beauxbatons with them?” asked James with a furrowed brow, interrupting her thoughts.

“I don’t really want to talk about my friends,” said Hermione with a sort of finality.

Thinking of them brought an unpleasant feeling to the pit of her stomach. She hoped Dumbledore would find a way for her to return, and quickly. The only reason these past weeks had been even remotely bearable was if she tried her best to close her mind and not think of all the people she loved in her own time.

James seemed to understand from the tone of her voice that this was a touchy topic. Instead, he tried to change the subject by bombarding her with a different array of questions.

“So, why did your family originally leave England for France?”

Hermione rolled her eyes and wondered whether James would ever be satisfied with asking her question.

“One of my parents’ dentist friends asked them to take over their practice in Paris because they were retiring. My parents always wanted their own dental practice so they jumped at the chance. We vacationed in France often so the area where we were moving wasn’t completely unfamiliar.”

“Dentist?” asked Sirius, looking confused. “What’s a dentist?”

“They attend to peoples’ teeth,” said a voice from behind Hermione.

Hermione gave a small jump in shock and spun around to see Lily standing behind her. Besides Lily stood none other than Snape, looking as brooding as ever, even if he was twenty years younger than she remembered. Lily smiled at Hermione but Snape just stood awkwardly formal next to Lily, staring across the table at James and Sirius with a look of pure loathing. Peter seemed to cower next to James.

“Hey Lily,” piped James. He immediately sat up straighter and his hand went through his dark hair automatically, making it stick up even more in the back. He didn’t even look at Snape, his eyes were locked on Lily.

“What is Snivellus doing here?” demanded Sirius. He was frowning and had a look on his face like he had just encountered something disgusting.

Snape gritted his teeth and turned his dark eyes towards Lily. “I’ll leave you with the scum. Goodbye.”

Even though she had been in school with him for a week now, Hermione had never actually heard him talk. The way he spoke was deliberately icy and he seemed to refrain from showing emotion in his speech. Very much like he’d do in her own time. He turned and stalked out of the Great Hall after sending James and Sirius a very frightening glare. Lily frowned and her eyes followed him as he walked down the long tables until he passed through the door and out of sight.

“Well I was going to introduce _Severus_ to Hermione but you lot scared him away,” said Lily, emphasizing Snape’s name. She crossed her arms and gave Sirius and James a disapproving look.

James put his hands up in front of him. “Hey, I’m innocent this time.”

“Because you were too busy staring at Lily…” muttered Lupin, with a faint smile, from besides Hermione.

Lily had obviously heard this and gave Lupin a gentle slap, but she had a small grin on her lips. She sat down on the other side of Hermione and narrowed her eyes at Sirius.

“You guys need to be nicer to him.”

“No we don’t,” replied Sirius.

Lily sighed, obviously giving up, knowing that there was no point. “Why are you even talking about dentists?”

“My parents are dentists,” said Hermione matter of factly.

“Dentists?” asked Lily with a tone of surprise. “Are you— are you, muggleborn?”

“Yes,” said Hermione simply with a small shrug.

Lily’s face broke into a huge grin and she clapped her hands together. “Oh this is wonderful! I knew right away that we were going to get along, Hermione. Now I can _finally_ discuss real world things with someone that actually knows what I’m talking about!”

“Real world? What do you call this world, then?” asked Sirius mocking offense.

“The wizarding world just seems too good to be true,” said Hermione.

Lily nodded in agreement.

“I guess you could say, it’s magical,” said Sirius, winking at Lily. Lupin rolled his eyes and groaned at the awful pun while Peter gave a forced half chuckled. James was still just staring at Lily as she rolled her eyes again.

“I need to go find Severus and apologize to him on Sirius’s behalf.” Lily sent Sirius another dirty look. “Hermione, we’ll talk later if you’re still awake. Remus and I have Prefect duties tonight so I don’t know exactly when I’ll be back. You have no idea how happy you also being a muggleborn makes me! See you! And I’ll see you for rounds later, Remus.”

“See you, Lily,” smiled Lupin.

She gave a quick smile and wave before rushing out of the Great Hall to find Snape. James slouched down and looked visibly upset that Lily had gone. Hermione tried to hide her grin.

“Well, I’m leaving aswell,” said Hermione, standing up and grabbing her books.

“You’re not going after Snape with Lily are you?” demanded Sirius.

“Don’t be ridiculous, I haven’t even been introduced to him yet, why would I go after him? I’m headed back to the common room to drop off my books and then I’m going to the library.”

“We’ll come with you,” said James, also standing up.

“ _You’re_ going to the library?” gawked Hermione. Out of the four boys the only one she had even seen with an open book had been Lupin.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” said James, mimicking Hermione’s words and tone. “Sirius and I were planning on heading over to the Quidditch Pitch to fly around and our stuff is in our dormitory.”

“I haven’t set foot in that library since… ever,” grinned Sirius as he stood up also. Hermione rolled her eyes and the five of them walked out of the Great Hall.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

Hermione was going to do something stupid. She knew it was stupid but at the same time it felt like the smart thing to do. It was a clever idea, but at the same time, it was incredibly dumb and she would most likely regret it the moment she did it. It was logically foolish. That was a good way to put it. Logically foolish.

As the boys walked with her back to Gryffindor tower, she had thought of a way that might make her appear to be not as comfortable with the castle as the boys suspiciously believed she was. As the five of them were climbing the stairs, she remembered that if she was new to the school, she wouldn’t be entirely aware of the trick steps. Older students knew they were coming, it was second nature to just jump it, but new students (and Neville Longbottom) were always slipping into the stairs. Meaning, she was going to have to “fall” through one.

She knew one was just a little farther up the marble staircase so she made her way in front of the four boys, complaining about there being so many stairs and that she just wanted to get to the common room quicker. She was getting closer and closer to one of the trick steps and she had to concentrate hard to not to accidently jump it out of habit. There were only a few steps left when she heard someone call out to warn her. She purposely didn’t slow down her pace but, instead, she turned towards the boys when she felt her foot fall through the air and she gave a small yelp.

Even though she knew it was coming, her stomach seemed to do a somersault as she fell through the step. One of her arms had automatically gone out to break her fall. It slammed onto the hard, marble, step in front of her and sent a sharp stinging sensation through her elbow causing her to yell out in pain.

There was the sound of feet running up the stairs as the boys came to her rescue. Strong arms grabbed her from behind, under her arms, and easily pulled her out of the step.

“Geez, Hermione, are you alright?” asked the voice next to her as she was gently placed on solid ground again.

It was Lupin. His green eyes were wide with worry. The other three boys were a step below them so it must have been him who pulled her out.

 “I’m fine,” said Hermione who could feel her face burning with embarrassment. She brushed off her robes when she felt the pain in her arm again causing her to gasp. Her other hand automatically went to massage her other arm and the concern on Lupin’s face seemed to worsen. “Thanks for pulling me out Lu—Remus.”

 Hermione cursed herself in her head. She really needed to get comfortable calling him Remus instead of Lupin. There wasn’t a lot of time to brood on this because, from the step below her, came a barking laugh.

 Sirius was doubled over, clutching his stomach, with his other hand on James’s shoulder as he used him to support himself as he laughed.

 “That… that was _hilarious!_ ” wheezed Sirius who was laughing so hard his eyes were filling with tears. James pushed him off his shoulder and Sirius lost his balance and fell backwards and into a sitting position on one of the steps but he that hadn’t stopped him from laughing. “I can’t believe that happened!”

 “Are you sure you’re alright, Hermione?” asked Remus, ignoring Sirius and watching her rub her arm.

 Sirius was still howling with laughter behind them with Peter and James looking at him like he had gone crazy.

 “There’s no permanent damage, I just banged my arm. The worse thing that will happen is that I’ll have a bruise tomorrow morning,” shrugged Hermione, still rubbing her arm.

 “You should see Madam Pomfrey, just in case. Even if it is just a bruise she can give you something for the pain and to stop the swelling…” said Remus.

 “Really, I’m fine…”

 “No, as a Prefect, I must insist.”

 At Remus’s comment, Sirius lost himself completely. He laughed even harder and started rolling side to side on the step he had fallen on with Peter watching him in bemusement.

 “You better go Hermione. He’s a Prefect, he might give you a detention if you don’t,” snickered James who gave Sirius a small kick.

 “Fine, I’ll go,” sighed Hermione. It _would_ be nice to have the throbbing in her arm stop…

“Great, let’s go,” said Remus cheerfully.

“Wait, you’re coming with me?” asked Hermione in surprise. She had expected to go on her own and have an excuse to depart from the Marauders. “You don’t have to, I know where the Hospital Wing is…”

“Nonsense, I’m sure Sirius, James, and Peter can find their way to the Common Room on their own,” replied Remus.

“Are you sure about that, Moony? What if we get lost?” grinned Sirius, who had finally stopped laughing, although his eyes still twinkled with humor.

Remus just rolled his eyes. “I’ll catch up with you guys later.”

“You better… Don’t make me sit alone in the stands while these two have all the fun,” pouted Peter gesturing towards James and Sirius. He gave Hermione an odd look, like it was her fault he’d have to sit alone. Hermione chose to ignore him. The less attention she paid him the better.

Moments later, Sirius, Peter, and James said goodbye and continued up the stairs as Remus led Hermione in the other direction towards the Hospital Wing.

“Moony?” questioned Hermione once the other boys were out of sight.

“It’s just a silly nickname…” shrugged Remus with a sort of finality.

“Oh,” said Hermione.

Remus seemed to become uncomfortable with the question so Hermione decided to drop it. The nickname obviously had to do with the fact that Remus was a werewolf but she felt like someone who didn’t know about his “furry problem” would be curious as to why he was called Moony.

Their walk was mostly silent from that point on. Hermione either stared at the ground or fiddled with her bag, making herself look busy so she did not have to talk to Remus. Every now and then she would catch Remus’s eye as he stole glances at her but she refused to meet them.

She had failed at trying to make herself invisible, if anything she did the exact opposite. The Marauders paid her too much attention and all she wanted to do was pass the time until Dumbledore found a way for her to return to 1996.

Their constant attention was riddling Hermione’s thoughts as she and Remus approached the Hospital Wing. Why didn’t they mind their own business? She has gone out of her way to avoid the lot of them but they won’t let her be.

The Hospital Wing looked more or less the same. It was a large, open, room with a row of beds with curtains on either side of the room. The large windows let in beams of September sunlight which flooded the room. All the beds were empty and carefully made, not a single person seemed to be there.

Hermione watched as Remus looked around the room. He cleared his throat and still nothing happened.

“Madam Pomfrey?” he called out hesitantly.

Suddenly, a head popped out the doorway into the office that was adjacent to the Hospital Wing.

Madam Pomfrey looked much younger than Hermione had expected. She was thinner and her hair was a light brown instead of grey. Her face was soft and kind and her blue eyes were welcoming. Hermione guessed she must have been in her late thirties or early forties.

“Oh, Remus, dear,” she said when she caught sight of the two of them standing by the door. She walked into the room and eyed Hermione carefully as she looked over the pair of them. “Is everything alright?”

Hermione swore she saw Madam Pomfrey’s eyes quickly glance at the calendar on her office door, most likely checking the date for the full moon.

“We’re fine, Madam Pomfrey,” said Remus who either seemed to, or chose to, not notice. He looked over at Hermione. “Well, Hermione here could use something. She banged her arm pretty badly when she fell through one of the trick steps in the Grand Staircase.”

“It’s not that bad,” Hermione added quickly, “It’s just sore and will probably leave a large bruise.”

Madam Pomfrey sighed. “Take a seat, dear. I’ll get you something that will fix you right up.”

She strode across the room and back into her office. Hermione made her way over to one of the beds and sat down in a chair next to it. Sitting on one of the beds would have made her feel foolish. Remus pulled up another chair and sat next to her. There was a moment of silence before Hermione spoke up.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” she asked.

Remus looked taken aback at her question and gave her a perplexed look.

“Why am I being _nice_ to you?” he asked in astonishment.

Hermione tried not to grin at the look he was giving her. He almost looked offended that she would question why he was nice, as if she had expected otherwise. Instead, she shook her head and reworded her question.

“I don’t just mean you. I’m referring to you and your friends. You had to have noticed by now that I’ve been trying to avoid you guys for the past week and yet you’ve been so utterly persistent in following me around. Why do you guys seem to care about me so much? You insisted on bringing me to the Hospital Wing over a bruise… why? The four of you easily could have walked away without any source of remorse, you barely know me.”

Remus just stared at her for a few seconds, at a complete loss for words.

“Why were you avoiding us?” he finally asked.

“I asked you first.”

He gave a short laugh and shook his head slightly before becoming serious again. “Well… I thought you seemed nice enough last week when we met the first night back at Hogwarts.”

Hermione raised her eyebrow and he continued.

“Granted, James was wary of you at first, but he’s gotten over himself. You’re a fellow Gryffindor, and you haven’t given us a reason to dislike you, why wouldn’t we be nice to you? Plus, we admired how you told James off for being a prat and you seem like a genuinely good person.”

“Oh,” was the only thing Hermione could think of responding with.

Out of all the possible answers Hermione assumed he would give, that was not one of them. She thought it might have been their form of a joke but she knew Remus wouldn’t lie to her. At least not the Remus she would know in the Nineties. There was something about the way he said it that made her believe him.

The stark differences between her first week at Hogwarts in 1991 and her first week here were uncanny. True, the first real encounter she had with the Marauders reminded her of how Ron and Harry had treated her at first but, since their little altercation, they treated her like she belonged.

There was something she was feeling that didn’t make sense. It was a sort of comfortable feeling. Like she wasn’t alienated. She was actually feeling… happy? That couldn’t be right.

The sound of approaching footsteps caused Hermione and Remus to look up. Madam Pompfrey was walking towards them, from her office. In her hand was a small vile of liquid.

“This should do the trick,” said Madam Pomfrey, with a smile, as she walked up to Hermione and Remus. She placed the small vile in Hermione’s hand. “It will stop the pain and swelling, there shouldn’t even be a bruise by morning.”

In the vile was a thick looking potion. It was a brilliant shade of orchard purple and seemed to reflect the light. Cautiously, Hermione sniffed the potion. It had a vaguely familiar scent but she couldn’t quite place it. Tilting her head back slightly, she tipped the contents on the vial into her mouth and swallowed it quickly.

It didn’t taste good nor awful. It actually didn’t taste like anything. Immediately, a warm feeling began to spread through her body. It gave her a sort of light feeling, almost like she was slightly floating. The warmth spread down her chest and into the arm she had injured. Her elbow became warm and numb for a moment before the pain vanished completely.

Hermione extended her arm and bent her elbow a few times before looking up at Madam Pomfrey with a smile.

“Thank you, this is much better.”

“Just watch out for those stairs, I could not even begin to tell you how many students get injured from them,” said Madam Pomfrey shaking her head. Her head was still slightly shaking as she walked back to her office and out of sight.

Standing up, Remus looked over at Hermione.

“Ready to go?” he asked her.

Hermione stood up, as well, and straightened her robes. The two of them left the Hospital Wing and made their way back to the Grand Staircase. Hermione started in the direction of the Gryffindor Common Room when Remus suddenly stopped her.

“Why don’t you come to the Quidditch pitch with us? You can keep Peter and me company while James and Sirius almost kill themselves on their brooms,” said Remus with a slightly crooked smile, a few steps below her.

She looked down at him and gestured to the flights of stairs behind her. “Thanks, but I really just want to go to the common room and then the library.”

The crooked smile on his face fell into a small frown. It was clear he seemed disappointed by her answer.

“Why are you avoiding us?” he asked, tilting his head and taking one step closer to her. “And don’t bother denying it, you said you were when we were in the Hospital Wing.”

“I’m not here to make friends,” she said, slowly and softly. “I mean, I didn’t come here to make friends. I’m just here until I… until I graduate.”

She cursed herself again. She had barely stopped herself from saying until she gets home.

“You don’t have to avoid everyone, you know,” said Remus. “Don’t isolate yourself. The people here at Hogwarts really aren’t that bad.”

“I’m sorry,” said Hermione, with a sad smile, and she turned around and walked up the stairs towards the Gryffindor Common Room, leaving Remus behind, looking confused and hurt on that first step.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

Later that night, Hermione lay awake, staring at the ceiling of the girl’s dormitory. There was an eerie silence in the dark room. All of the torches were extinguished and the gibbous moon was the only source of light; leaving ghostly shadows around the circular chamber.

The curtains around Mary’s bed were drawn shut as she slept but Lily’s curtains were open, as she still hadn’t returned from Prefect duties. Originally, Hermione had planned to wait for Lily to return so they could talk but she kept replaying the conversation she had with Remus in her mind.

After thinking about it, Hermione decided she should probably just go to sleep and forget about talking to Lily. The only problem was, she wasn’t able to actually fall asleep. Her mind would not stop racing long enough for her to fall into unconsciousness.

She lay in bed, staying at the ceiling for another fifteen minutes before stepping out of bed and onto the wooden floor. There was no point in trying to sleep. Silently, she slid into her shoes, slipped her robes on and exited the dormitory.

The Common Room was deserted at this hour. Only a small fire was lit and the tables contained the usual rubbish that littered the Common Room every night. As Hermione approached her favorite squishy armchair she realized that she didn’t want to just sit there with her thoughts. She had another idea.

Before she really knew what she was doing, Hermione found herself crawling through the portrait hole and out of the Gryffindor Common Room. The Fat Lady gave a startled snore as Hermione pushed open her frame.

“Excuse me, young lady! Where on Earth do you think you’re going at this hour? It’s nearly one in the morning! Get back in here before you get caught!” she said, clearly irritated by being woken up.

But Hermione didn’t care. She ignored The Fat Lady and continued on her way.

Not knowing where she intended on going, Hermione just walked. It was dark in the castle and most of the portraits were asleep. The ones that weren’t sent her disapproving looks for being out of bed so far after curfew.

Before she knew it, Hermione was standing in front of the stone gargoyles that guarded Professor Dumbledore’s office. That was when Hermione knew exactly what she wanted to do.

“Fawkes,” she said.

The gargoyles sprang aside and Hermione hurried up the staircase and stopped in front of the doors leading to Dumbledore’s office but Hermione hesitated.

What if he was asleep? It would be incredibly inappropriate for her to just waltz into his office, unannounced, and wake him up, over her trivial thoughts. Right as she was turning around to leave, the doors creaked open, revealing a line of pleasant light. Slowly, Hermione pushed the doors open and peered inside the room.

Dumbledore sat, in his daytime robes, behind his desk. He was stroking the feathers of a large, swan sized, crimson and gold bird, that was perched on his desk.

“What can I do for you at this hour, Ms. Granger?” he asked without looking at her, although he had a small smile on his face.

Hermione walked through the doors but did not walk to his desk.

“I want to leave,” she stated.

Dumbledore finally looked up and met Hermione’s eyes.

“Have you met Fawkes, my phoenix?” he asked, gesturing to the magnificent bird.

Hermione’s mouth fell open slightly. “Wha-? Well… yes… I have, sir, but…”

“I thought you might have, most people question him when they see him for the first time so I assumed you must have been introduced already,” said Dumbledore, cutting her off and returning his gaze to Fawkes. “Very loyal companions, phoenixes are.”

“Sir,” said Hermione, with a little more force. “I think it would be best for me to leave Hogwarts. To go someplace else until there’s a way for me to return home.”

“And why is that, Hermione?” he asked, looking up at her again. His smile didn’t quite reach his eyes this time.

“It’s too hard to be here. These people… they’re too interested in me. I thought I could just blend into the shadows and exist here by myself but that doesn’t seem possible anymore.”

“So what do you suggest you do?” asked Dumbledore. “Do you wish to leave and just live on your own, avoiding all human interaction, like a hermit?”

The thought of what she would do if she left hadn’t crossed her mind. She didn’t know where she would go but she knew it shouldn’t be at Hogwarts. Lily, the Marauders, and even Mary seemed to want her friendship, but it was too dangerous. She couldn’t risk the future by selfishly allowing herself to befriend these people, which is what she decided to tell Dumbledore.

After she had finished there was a lengthy silence. She stood awkwardly in the center of Dumbledore’s office while he sat, stroking his long beard and thinking.

“I think,” started Dumbledore, “That it would be unwise for you to leave Hogwarts.”

Hermione started to object but Dumbledore held up his hand.

“I feel as it is my responsibility to keep you safe until I discover a way to send you back to your own time. I cannot ensure your safety if you leave. We do not know how long you will be here. It is not sensible to isolate yourself, you must try to lead a normal life, while you are here.”

“But what if I change something? I don’t want to be held responsible for changing things in the future! Is my well-being really worth more than the well-beings of the people around me?” Hermione demanded. “I know many of these people. I know their future and their pasts, and as far as I know, I’m not in their pasts. What happens if I insert myself now?”

Dumbledore had a grave look in his eyes and he stared at her with pity. “Do you remember what I told you a few months ago when you first arrived here? About time being like a stream?”

“Yes…” muttered Hermione, not knowing where this was going.

“I want you to make friends, Hermione,” said Dumbledore, leaning forwards. “It must be strange, knowing these people in the future and seeing them as the same age as you, but, you will not accidentally change the outcome of their lives, from now until you fall through time in 1996. You are a very bright witch, I know you will be able to keep your secret long enough for me to find a way for you to return. I have faith in you.”

“How do you know I won’t change anything?” questioned Hermione. She felt slightly better but she wasn’t sure if she believed Dumbledore or not.

“Things always have a funny way of working out,” said Dumbledore with a smile.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

Those were the words that Hermione replayed in her mind, over and over again, as she walked through the dark castle, back to the Gryffindor Common Room. She was going to take his advice and try to have as normal of a life as she could, given the circumstances.

Dumbledore was right, she didn’t know how long she would be stuck here so she might as well get comfortable, and if that meant making friends then so be it. And she knew exactly where to start. She just hoped she wasn’t too late to have that conversation about being muggle-born with Lily after all.


	8. New Found Friendships

* * *

Chapter 8 - New Found Friendships

* * *

Remus had never actually wanted the responsibility of being a prefect. It was obvious that Dumbledore had appointed him the job in an attempt to have him reign some sort of control over his friends, not as if that actually happened. They treated his title more like a joke than a position of authority. Ever since that Hogwarts delivery owl had given him the shiny golden Prefects’ badge last summer, James and Sirius had seen it as the perfect opportunity to break as many rules as possible, and drag Peter with them, to see if he would actually write them up.

Which he hadn’t.

It wasn’t until about a month into fifth year when they realized that Remus now had the prime opportunity to be the ultimate wingman to James since Lily had also been appointed Gryffindor’s fifth year prefect. All Remus had to do was mention how “amazing”, “kind”, and “thoughtful” he thought James was while he had prefect duties with Lily. Of course, the trouble making didn’t stop but, they treated his title more like a good thing instead of a burden.

He still didn’t like being a prefect.

He didn’t like roaming the halls at night or writing people up. He didn’t like that it could potentially damage his friendships if, for some reason, they did something he couldn’t overlook. It was also incredibly uncomfortable trying to fit James into conversations, and Lily wasn’t a fool. It didn’t take long for her to realize what he was doing. Actually, it took her about five seconds to grasp that James had put Remus up to it after the first time he mentioned James during rounds. It was awkward at first but, it soon became an inside joke between the two of them. He would mention how _amazing_ he thought James was and she would play along and say some snarky, sarcastic, remark back but by her expression, Remus didn’t think she actually meant it. Even if she wouldn’t admit it, James had been growing on Lily.

That was the only good thing that came out of being a Prefect; his friendship with Lily.

“Did you see that?” Lily asked softly from beside him, interrupting the eerie silence of the sleeping castle around them. She pointed down the dark corridor. “Over there, by that suit of armor.”

The two of them had been patrolling the corridors and were now on the dimly lit, cold, seventh floor. Remus squinted through the dark but saw nothing other than the dusty old suit of armor.

“What am I supposed to be seeing?” he asked. Whatever it was, he had missed it by not paying attention.

“I think someone just walked down the Gargoyle Corridor, come on,” she said as she quickly walked down the corridor.

Remus groaned under his breath. This was the part he hated: catching people doing something wrong and then having to discipline them. He felt like a snitch, and not the golden ball that James never stopped playing with. Like a tattletale but, nonetheless, he followed Lily. As if there were any choice in the matter.

As they approached the corner they heard a soft, distant, voice that Remus couldn’t place. He had to speed up to keep up with Lily and the two of them turned the corner and stared down the Gargoyle Corridor. The end of the hall was lit by two torches illuminating the entrance to Dumbledore’s office. They stopped and stared as the gargoyle slowly moved back into place, closing off the passage way up into the headmaster’s tower.

“Well, you were right, Lily,” said Remus as the gargoyle stopped closing. “There was definitely someone there.”

“It doesn’t matter,” sighed Lily, shaking her head. “It was probably a professor anyway. Could you imagine how humiliating it would have been if we tried to catch a professor after hours? It would have been awful!”

“Depends on the professor,” pondered Remus.

“Slughorn would have found it funny… but could you imagine if it had been McGonagall?” said Lily, her green eyes widening in fake horror.

“It would have been worth it to see your expression when it happened,” grinned Remus as Lily stuck her tongue out at him. “Let’s go, we only have two more floors to check and—blimey it’s already one in the morning!” said Remus, checking his watch. “We should have been done an hour ago, prefect duties have never taken us this long before!”

“Well, we’ve never had Peeves chuck dungbombs at us during our rounds before,” said Lily sourly. “That may have something to do with it.”

That was probably the most logical reason for them running so late. Not even fifteen minutes into their Prefect rounds did Peeves the Poltergeist appear and start taunting them. When Remus told him to get lost the poltergeist didn’t take it very well. Not very well at all. Seconds after he had spoken, Remus and Lily were having dungbombs chucked at them from above by a manically laughing Peeves. They had taken cover behind a suit of armor, who graciously held up their shield to protect them.

After about fifteen minutes they realized Peeves wasn’t planning on stopping anytime soon so they abandoned their hiding spot and spent a majority of the time with the shield charm up. Eventually, Peeves ran out of dungbombs but then Remus and Lily had to then go and clean up the mess that had been made, or face the wrath of Filch, the caretaker.

“I just want to finish this soon, I’m already exhausted and I want to have that conversation with Hermione,” said Lily as the two of them made their way back to the Grand Staircase.

Remus felt a pang of sadness when he thought of Hermione. She had been avoiding having any interactions with people unless she had too, and usually she would only talk to people if it was for class. At first, Remus thought that she might just be shy but he was beginning to think that there wasn’t actually a shy bone in Hermione’s body. She didn’t seem to have a problem taking to people, she just didn’t want to. Plus, the reason she gave him earlier that day slightly haunted him.

_‘I’m not here to make friends’_ she had said.

Something about that statement was just… just so sad… He had trouble not taking in personally, how could he not? He barely knew her and she barely knew him yet she had already written him and his friends off. He wondered whether or not she would actually wait up to have that conversation with Lily tonight.

“Do you think she’ll be waiting for you?” he asked Lily cautiously, airing out his thoughts. He didn’t want to offend her but he felt as though he owed it to Lily to offer up his opinion. “I mean, have you actually had a real conversation with her since the first day of class?”

Lily contemplated this for a second. “No, actually, I haven’t. We talk in passing but we haven’t had a real conversation.”

“She’s been avoiding everyone,” stated Remus simply.

He opened a great wooden door that led to the sixth floor and held it for Lily to go through first. The sixth floor was just as dark and cold as the seventh had been. The only sound, other than Remus and Lily, were the occasional snores from the sleeping portraits lining the walls.

“What makes you think she’s avoiding everyone?” asked Lily, glancing over at Remus as he followed her through the door.

“She told me.”

“She told you she was avoiding everyone? When did this happen?” Lily had stopped walking and was now facing Remus.

He quickly explained to Lily the encounter he had had with Hermione during and after their journey to the Hospital Wing earlier that day. He started from when Lily had left them in the Great Hal to find Snape and up to the point when Hermione said she wasn’t there to make friends.

“But there was something in her eyes… it was like she didn’t actually mean it. I just don’t understand why she would purposely avoid everyone at her own expense like that,” finished Remus.

“It’s a little obvious, isn’t it, Remus?” said Lily with a sad smile.

Remus frowned at her in confusion and Lily shook her head a little bit.

“For someone so smart and spends all their time reading you really can be oblivious, Remus,” said Lily and she started walking again down the dark corridor.

“As much as I enjoy you wounding my ego, I’d much rather you explained what is so obvious.”

“Well, for starters, she’s a new student-”

“I know that Lily… she’s adjusting-” said Remus. He felt like Lily was talking at him like he was an idiot.

“Let me finish!” Lily rolled her eyes. “As I was saying, Hermione’s new and yes, adjusting is probably extremely difficult for her but that’s not all. Yes, she is making adjusting seem incredibly easy but I cannot even imagine what she’s going through. To be in an entirely new place, no friends, not one familiar person… it must be terrifying.”

He agreed that Lily had a point, but this wasn’t any new information to Remus. That much he had gathered on his own. Obviously Hermione was struggling with being here and not knowing anyone but why would she keep herself from getting to know people? It just seemed like she was making things harder on herself.

“I understand that part, Lily,” started Remus. “That’s easy enough to pick up but, why avoid everyone? We tried to be friendly but she’s always hiding in some corner of the Library on her own.”

“You lot did come on a little strong,” said Lily with a shrug. “James and Sirius would not leave the poor girl alone. No wonder she was trying to escape. Also, didn’t you tell me, a few days ago, that she said James looked like her best friend? Imagine how weird that must be for her.”

It would be weird. Very weird. He began thinking of a scenario where he was forced to transfer to Beauxbatons and out of the first couple people that spoke to him, one of them was Hermione’s friend who happened to look like James. He shuddered slightly.

Now he was seeing what Lily was getting at.

They finished patrolling the sixth floor and began making their way to the last floor they would have to patrol before they finished rounds.

“And anyways, she throws herself into her studies as an excuse to be by herself. Out of all the things she’s struggling with right now, classes are definitely not on that list. It’s only been a week and I can already tell that she’s brilliant,” said Lily.

“Still, you’d think she’d want some form of companionship, she still has two more years until we graduate. We’re just trying—well, _I’m_ trying—to be welcoming,” said Remus.

“I think she might just be nervous about trying to befriend a group of people that have known each other for years. It probably isn’t you guys as individuals, it’s the fact that you, James, Sirius, and Peter have all been friends since first year,” replied Lily.

Sometimes Remus forgot how smart and perceptive Lily was.

“So, I shouldn’t take it personally?” asked Remus.

“Of course not, Remus!” smiled Lily. “Just tell your friends to back off a little bit. She needs space. Wait until she comes to you.”

“And what if she doesn’t?”

“Then I guess that would be her loss. We can’t force her to socialize, Remus, no matter how much we want her too. Good lord, we sound like worried parents,” Lily laughed. “I’m sure she’ll come around.”

“I guess we’ll see…” said Remus. It made sense. He would just have to wait for her to approach him, how hard could that be?

“Finally!” sighed Lily as they finished patrolling the last corridor. “Finished! Now let’s get back to the Common Room.”

It didn’t take them long to walk back through the dark castle to the seventh floor. Remus was tired and just wanted to crawl into the bed and sleep but Lily seemed very alert. She was probably excited to talk to Hermione about the muggle world.

“I hope she likes the Beatles,” said Lily as they got closer to The Fat Lady.

“Beetles? Like the bugs?” asked Remus in confusion as the Portrait swung open.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

It was a grey and overcast Sunday afternoon, completely different from the previous day’s sunshine. Hermione was sitting outside in the courtyard spending time with Mary. Lily had gone to find Snape right after the three of them had had breakfast but Hermione didn’t mind, she enjoyed spending time alone with Mary. The two of them chatted casually as they sat on a stone bench while Hermione had a book in her lap and Mary was reading some sort of magazine.

Although she had an open book in her lap, Hermione wasn’t actually reading. Even though she occasionally chatted with Mary, she was too busy thinking about the previous night she had spent with her and Lily.

She had just managed to get back to the dormitory only a few minutes before Lily returned from rounds, smelling very faintly of dungbombs. They had spent a long time talking and laughing by the fireplace in the Gryffindor Common Room. After about an hour of the two of them chatting, Mary, who had woken up to find both Lily and Hermione missing, came into the Common Room and joined them.

Throughout her entire life, Hermione never had many friends, let alone any girlfriends. Sure, she had begun to grow close to Ginny, after spending so much time with the Weasleys but this was somehow different. Being around Lily and Mary made her realize how much she had missed out on by not getting along with the other Gryffindor girls in her year. There was something about the two girls that was both welcoming and comforting, which was exactly what Hermione needed.

The three of them talked for a few hours until Lily quite literally fell asleep, curled up into a ball in one of the armchairs by the fire due to her exhaustion from prefect duties. The reflection of the fire on Lily’s red hair caused it to look like her entire head was engulfed in flames. Mary had taken one glance at Lily, who had started to drool a little bit, and started to shake in silent fits of laughter, causing Hermione to grin. With Lily passed out, Mary and Hermione talked quietly between themselves for a short while before they decided they should probably at least get a little bit of sleep. It took the two of them to levitate Lily back into their dormitory and into her bed.

She was immensely grateful that she had gone to have that conversation with Dumbledore. It had been the first time since she arrived in 1976 that Hermione had not felt so alone.

A group of four boys walked past them and grabbed Hermione’s attention, snapping her from the memory and causing her to look up.

James was walking and talking in a very animated fashion with his three best friends strolling behind him. They seemed to be coming from the castle and headed towards the grounds. At first, Hermione bit her lip and hesitated but there was something she wanted to do ever since she had spoken with Lily.

“Remus!” called Hermione, standing up. She placed her book down on the bench and turned to Mary. “I’ll be right back.”

Mary’s eyes peaked over her magazine and glanced over at the boys. She sent Hermione a questioning look but then gave her a small nod before resuming her reading.

The boys had stopped and Hermione jogged to catch up with them. Sirius flashed a brilliant grin as he watched her frizzy hair fly everywhere as she approached them. He really was devilishly handsome.

“Alright there, Dawson?” asked Sirius, still grinning as Hermione stopped in front of them. “How’s the arm?”

Hermione resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him, which seemed to be becoming a habit whenever she was around them. “It’s perfectly fine now, thank you. Madam Pomfrey healed it easily.” She turned towards Remus. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

“Uh, sure, Hermione,” said Remus. He turned and shrugged at the other three boys as Hermione tugged his sleeve, pulling him a few steps away towards the far end of the courtyard.

When Hermione believed that they were out of ear reach, she stopped and turned to face Remus, who looked incredibly confused.

“I wanted to apologize for yesterday,” started Hermione. “I shouldn’t have been acting so strange and distant.”

Remus’s expression softened at her words.

“You weren’t being strange—”

“I was and I’m sorry,” interrupted Hermione shaking her head.

She wished he would just let her talk. She had to get this off of her chest before she changed her mind. Admitting she was wrong had never been something she was good at.

“And you were right, I need to give the people here a chance because they really aren’t so bad.”

Her eyes flickered over to Mary who was carefully watching the interaction between Hermione and Remus. When she noticed Hermione glance her way, Mary’s eyes widened and her face quickly disappeared back behind her magazine. Hermione chuckled softly.

“I can see that,” said Remus with a smirk as he followed Hermione’s line of vision over to Mary. “I’m glad you’re making friends. Mary Macdonald and Lily Evans are definitely the type of people anyone would be able to get along with. And I’m not just saying that because they’re both fellow Gryffindors and Lily is also a Prefect.” He gave her a small wink.

“It’s just strange having girlfriends. I’ve only ever had guys as good friends,” replied Hermione.

It had always just been her, Ron, and Harry. For some reason she had always had trouble befriending other girls yet, Lily and Mary were kinder to Hermione in this one short week than any of the other girls in her year had ever been to her, and Hermione was very grateful for that. The kindness that Mary and Lily showed her was infectious and it was a debt Hermione would never be able to repay. Yes, it was strange being around Lily, with her being Harry’s mother, but there were no strange feelings with Mary. When Hermione was just with Mary there were no reminders of her past life or that she was stuck in the past. Hermione thanked Merlin that she had no idea who Mary was in the future. Mary was a breath of fresh air.

“Well, who said they had to be your only friends?” laughed Remus. Suddenly, his eyes lit up like he had just thought of a brilliant idea. “Here, come with me...”

It was now his turn to take a bewildered Hermione by the sleeve of her robes and pull her across the courtyard. He stopped her in front of the other boys and Hermione raised her eyebrow at him. She had no idea what he was trying to do.

“Hermione has finally agreed to stop avoiding us,” said Remus, proudly.

Hermione groaned internally. Remus surely had opened a fresh can of worms and the banter began.

“I never actually said that…” started Hermione.

“Excellent,” interrupted a grinning James. “Does this mean you’ll be joining us for dinner?

“She’s coming to dinner?” wondered Peter.

“Don’t be daft, Wormtail. Of course she is!”

“Wait a sec—” Hermione started to object. This had not been what she was expecting at all.

“What a brilliant idea, Prongs!” beamed Sirius. He strode up to Hermione and rubbed the top of her head, making her frizzy hair even messier; if that were somehow possible.

“What do you think you’re doing—”

“Why thank you, Padfoot,” grinned James, completely ignoring distressed Hermione.

“She should definitely stick around so I won’t miss her fall through anymore steps,” said Sirius, laughter glistening in his eyes.

Hermione pursed her lips and could feel her face begin to flush. Her hands were desperately trying to flatten her disheveled hair but the wind kept blowing stands in her face. It was hopeless.

“That’s all very nice of you,” she said to James, giving up trying to fix her hair, “but, I’ve already agreed to have dinner with Lily.”

One would have thought that Christmas had come early if they had seen the thrilled expression on James’s face as Hermione said this.

“Evans is more than welcome to sit with us, too!” grinned James. “In fact, the more the merrier! Right boys?”

He turned, beaming, to his friends and Hermione had to stop herself from grinning at him. He looked like an excited puppy.

“Well said, mate,” said Sirius, grinning back at his friend.

“Well, it’s settled then. Dawson here and Evans will be joining us for dinner,” nodded James.

“Do I not get a say in this?” demanded Hermione, crossing her arms. Even though they were being idiots she had to admit that she was slightly amused.

“No,” said James, Remus, and Sirius at the same time. Peter just looked uneasy at the whole situation.

“What if Lily doesn’t accept your offer?” challenged Hermione.

She almost felt bad for saying this because James’s smile fell into a slight frown. He actually looked nervous for a second before putting on a brave face.

“We’ll see about that,” said James, forcing a grin. He turned towards Sirius. “Ready to go?”

“Yup, see you at dinner, Dawson,” said Sirius, flashing another wicked grin. He playfully threw his arm around James’s neck and they started on their way across the courtyard.

“We’ll see you later, Hermione,” said Remus, who turned to follow James and Sirius. “Are you coming, Peter?”

“Bye,” mumbled Peter who hurried to catch up to Remus.

Hermione stood there for a second and watched as the four boys walked out of the courtyard and out of sight before turning towards Mary.

When she sat back down, Mary laid her magazine across her lap and turned to face Hermione on the bench.

“What was _that_ about?” asked Mary curiously.

“James Potter just asked me to join him for dinner later. Well, forced me is more like it…” stated Hermione.

“Wait… _James Potter_ asked _you_ to _dinner_?” asked Mary, her jaw dropped in astonishment. “Not that he wouldn’t have any reason not to ask you… I mean… he’s just so hung up on Lily… bloody hell… that came out entirely wrong…”

Hermione laughed as Mary tried to correct what she had said.

“Don’t worry, I understand what you meant. I didn’t even mean it in that way. What I meant to say is that he invited me to join him, Sirius, Remus, and Peter for dinner. He also wants me to invite Lily.”

“Ah, his true motives are revealed,” smirked Mary. “You know she’ll probably say ‘no’, right?”

Hermione sighed, “Yes, I even said that to James but he wasn’t having it. I supposed I might as well try… Do you want to join us?”

“Thanks but no thanks,” said Mary, picking her magazine up and flipping it open. “I’d rather not have to eat while Sirius Black cracks inappropriate jokes. I’d lose my appetite.”

At that, all Hermione could do was laugh.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

To Hermione’s surprise, Lily agreed to dinner when Hermione asked her when she saw her later that afternoon. There wasn’t even a persuasion involved.

“Well, why not? Just because he can be a pompous arse around me doesn’t mean he won’t end up being a good friend to you. Well, at least I hope so,” was Lily’s only response but something gave Hermione the impression that there was an underlying motive behind her agreeing so quickly to dinner.

As dinner time approached, Hermione grew anxious. All she wanted to do was blend into the shadows but she had promised Dumbledore that she would at least make an effort to try to fit in. If Dumbledore thought it was harmless for her to befriend people than it should be safe… right?

About ten minutes before dinnertime, Hermione found herself walking side by side with Lily on the way to the Great Hall. Lily was still fawning over the fact that Hermione was muggle-born.

 Their conversation was somewhat of an extension of the one they had the previous night.  It was difficult for Hermione to try to remember when certain pop culture things actually occurred in fear that she would accidentally give something away that hadn’t happened yet. That’s why when Lily had brought up the Beatles the previous night, Hermione instantly realized it was a topic that she could take advantage of. Thank goodness the Beatles were still popular in her time.

As they approached the Entrance Hall their conversation came to a halt as Lily recognized a friend of hers. Following Lily’s line of sight, Hermione noticed that Lily was staring at a boy walking up from the dungeons with greasy dark hair.

“Severus!” called Lily over the crowd of people.

It was miraculous that Snape even managed to hear Lily call for him over the chatting crowd. Nonetheless, he stopped walking and his head snapped towards them; his dark eyes looked over both Hermione and Lily. When he caught sight of Lily his face broke into an odd expression that Hermione had never seen in her time.

Was Snape… happy?

Lily grinned and waved him over. He walked, or more like glided, towards the two of them. The three of them moved over to the side of the corridor to get out of the way of the bustle of students making their way to dinner.

“Hello, Sev,” smiled Lily, once they were out of the crowd’s way.

_Sev?_ Was that a pet name for Snape? This was so bizarre to Hermione.

“I’d like you to meet Hermione Dawson,” beamed Lily. “I never had the chance to actually introduce you yesterday but better late than never.”

Snape’s eyes scanned Hermione as he took in her appearance. There was a short moment of silence and Hermione could almost see the gears in his head turn as he carefully calculated his response.

“Hello,” he said smoothly. Apparently, that build up was for nothing. Yet, he sounded slightly friendlier than she had expected. The iciness that had been in his voice the previous day had disappeared. It was probably a tone he saved especially for James and Sirius.

“And Hermione, this is my best friend, Severus Snape,” said Lily, still smiling and looking at the two of them. Snape’s lip twitched a little at this remark.

_Best friend?_ Now Hermione was certain that Harry had no knowledge of the friendship between his least favorite professor, excluding Umbridge, and his mother.

“Nice to meet you,” said Hermione with a small smile.

There was something not exactly innocent about young Snape, but something incredibly vulnerable. Of course, she couldn’t forgive Snape for the way he treated others in the past… well... the future… but Hermione was convinced that Snape was now on their side. He was a member of the Order for goodness sake and she had spent the entirety of the previous year trying to get that through Harry and Ron’s thick skulls. Anyway, young Snape hadn’t done anything wrong yet. He wasn’t a Death Eater, he was a sixteen year old boy. Besides, if Lily considered him a best friend, how bad could he be?

Lily must have noticed Hermione thinking and misinterpreted it to mean Hermione was wary of Snape.

“Don’t worry, Hermione,” said Lily. “You’ve probably heard nasty rumors about Slytherin house, but they aren’t all bad. Just look at Sev and Professor Slughorn.”

“Unfortunately,” said Snape slowly, “I cannot speak for the rest of my house.”

“Oh! I’m not worried in the slightest,” said Hermione, which was only half true. It was true that she wasn’t nervous about anything in the micro sense, such as Snape. It was more of a constant nervousness of the macro sense. You know, with the possibly ruining time lines accidently. No big deal.

“Good, because I have a feeling that you two will get along. Anyway, we’re going to be late for dinner,” said Lily, turning to face Snape with a smile. “See you, Severus.”

“Goodbye, Lily. Hermione,” he said in his best controlled voice but Hermione noticed that he seemed slightly disappointed in their departure.

Dinner did not go as Hermione had expected. She was surprised to find how much she enjoyed herself. The interactions between James and Sirius were hilariously stupid. Some of the things that would come out of their mouths were worthy of eye rolls yet, they actually seemed quite friendly. Hermione was always stuck in between wondering whether or not she should laugh or be appalled. They were like Fred and George, only ruder.

It was actually comforting being around James rather than strange, as she had anticipated it being. Maybe it had to do with him and Harry looking strikingly similar, but Hermione rather liked being around James. Like Harry, he was fiercely protective of his friends however, his head was so inflated that Hermione wondered how it managed to stay on. Everything that came out of his mouth was meant to impress Lily, which was very un-Harry-like. It seemed as though James loved having the attention on himself while Harry, on the other hand, tried his best to not draw too much attention to himself. Not that that had actually worked out in Harry’s favor due to him being a magnet for trouble…

The longer dinner went on, Hermione began to notice more differences between James and Harry. Not that the differences were a bad thing, they were just… well… different.

Even in appearance they differed. Hermione had the seat opposite James so she was able to get a good look at him while they ate. Yes, James had hazel eyes instead of green, which were shaped differently, and did not have a scar on his forehead but that was not where the physical differences ended. James’s nose was slightly longer than she remembered Harry’s being and he seemed to be fitter. The years of neglect from the Dursleys had always made Harry so thin and this was not the case for James. There was also an air of confidence around James while Harry tended to be more passive.

Having James across from her made it seem more like she was having dinner and a show. He was loud and energetic, constantly messing around with his friends while Sirius was messing with both James and Remus, as he was sandwiched in between the two boys. Again, Hermione was glad she was sitting beside Lily with Peter on the other side so she didn’t have to look at him. She didn’t have a problem with younger Snape but she wasn’t able to get rid of the awful feeling that she got in the pit of her stomach when she was around Peter. Hermione was definitely not ready to forgive and forget all of the terrible things he will end up doing.

Speaking of Snape, while the boys were talking about their collection of chocolate frog cards with Lily, Hermione stole a glance towards the Slytherin table and was not surprised to see one of its occupants staring right back. She watched curiously as Snape stared angrily at the back of James’s head. His eyes quickly went back and forth between James’s head and Lily. His grip on his fork was so tight that Hermione noticed his hand had paled from the lack of circulation. After a moment, Snape eyes caught Hermione’s and he relaxed his grip on his fork, sneered, and turned away in what looked like frustration.

And that was that.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

The following week went by much quicker than the first week of term had. It must have had something to do with her being much happier now that she was becoming closer with Lily, Mary, and the Marauders. Before Hermione knew it, it was already Wednesday and she and Mary were walking down the corridors to Charms.

When they entered the classroom they sat next to Lily, who already happened to be there, but something seemed off.

Hermione turned in her seat and looked at the row behind her where the Marauders usually sat and found one of them missing. She stared down at Remus’s empty chair in bewilderment. Remus was the last person to ditch class. James noticed her staring at the empty chair and gave her a mischievous smile before returning to his conversation with Sirius.

“Remus’s mother is very sick,” whispered Mary from beside her. She had spoken so softly Hermione had to strain to listen. “He often has to leave to take care of her when she gets worse. He should be back in a few days, though. Poor boy…” She shook her head slightly with a sad look on her face.

Of course; tonight there would be a full moon. But a sick mother who falls ill once a month? That wasn’t a very strong alibi. Hermione didn’t understand how no one had figured out that Remus would disappear once a month for the past five years, coincidentally on a full moon and not figure out he was a werewolf. Surely she thought people must notice his disappearances on full moons especially in Astronomy class since they monitor the moons phases… It was so incredibly obvious!

Nonetheless, Hermione was slightly sad that Remus was missing from class.

Professor Flitwick entered the classroom and Hermione turned back to face the front of the classroom towards her tiny Professor.

“Good morning, class, good morning!” he piped as he made his way to his desk where he climbed on a pile of books to see over it.

“Today we will be learning a very handy and important spell, the water-making spell. Does anyone want to venture a guess to what it does?” asked Flitwick, looking around the room hopefully.

“Makes water?” called out a Ravenclaw boy with a smirk on his face. His friends around him broke into a fit of laughter.

“Thank you, Mr. Donner” sighed Flitwick as the laughter died down, “but I was hoping for a more in depth answer.”

Before she realized what she was doing, Hermione shot her hand into the air, which Mary had to quickly dodge to avoid being hit in the face.

“Ms. Dawson?” said Flitwick in surprise.

Other faces were staring at her in curiousity when she realized she had never spoken in class since she’s been there. Her face started to burn slightly.

“It produces a clear, pure jet of water from the tip of ones’ wand. The water is safe to drink and, depending on the intention of the caster, it can be as simple as a small stream of water to a powerful wave.”

“Precisely! I don’t think I could have said it any better myself,” said Flitwick with a smile. “Five points to Gryffindor!

“Now can anyone tell me the incantation that is used for this specific spell?” Flitwick asked.

Again, Hermione felt her hand shoot straight up into the air.

“Ms. Dawson?”

“The incantation is _Aguamenti,_ sir,” she said.

“Correct again! Take another five points, Ms. Dawson,” said Flitwick, beaming at her.

Mary gave her a huge smile and she felt someone poke her in the back.

“Nice one, Dawson,” she heard Sirius’s voice say. She could almost hear the smile in his voice and she grinned slightly.

“I hope you all are copying this down!” she heard Flitwick say.

He began to demonstrate the wand movement, a sort of sideways S of some sorts, but Hermione was distracted by the whispers from behind her. It was obviously the Marauders but she wasn’t able to differentiate their whispers.

“I did it last time!” a voice hissed.

“No, I did, you’re confused from summer holiday!”

“Well, it is definitely not my turn to take notes for Remus…”

“It’s Padfoot’s turn!” said a voice Hermione believed to belong to James.

“Fat chance!” whispered back Sirius.

“Someone just take notes already!”

The bickering went on for another minute before Hermione had had enough of their distractions. She turned around in her chair and sent them each a disapproving glare as they fought over, or more like fought to get rid of, what appeared to be Remus’s notebook.

“Oh for goodness sake! Give it here!” snapped Hermione quietly and she snatched the notebook from Sirius’s hands. “ _I’ll_ take his notes, now be quiet!”

She turned back in her chair and opened up to a blank page in Remus’s notebook and started copying her own notes into Remus’s notebook.

“Well look at that, boys,” she heard James whisper. “Ten points to Gryffindor _and_ we don’t have to take Moony’s notes! Bless Dawson being here.”

Hermione smiled down at her notes. Not once did she hear the words “know-it-all” or “insufferable” throughout the entire class.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

That night, it was clear out and all the stars were shining brightly against the dark sky. The full moon was large and illuminating outside of the window and it created a stillness in the empty Gryffindor Common Room. The usual nightly entertainment from James and Sirius did not take place due to the lack of Remus so no one was loitering around the common room after curfew, which Hermione found enjoyable. Her favorite armchair by the fireplace was free and no one was around to bother her as she read.

She had already finished the Charms essay on Aguamenti that Professor Flitwick had assigned earlier that day. Actually, she had all of her assignments for that week already finished and was using her spare time to reread books from the library on time travel to see if she had missing something. There had to be something _somewhere_ that would help her get home…

A door above her slammed shut and she heard someone shush another person. Hermione’s head jerked in the direction of the noise and expected to see someone walk down the stairs and into the Common Room but no one appeared. Hermione shrugged to herself thinking that they must have gone back into their dorm.

Hermione returned to her book _Time to Not Meddle with Time_ when she swore she heard soft footsteps. Again, she looked up and saw nothing. Right as she looked back down at her book there was a thump and Hermione’s eyes shot up to see the armchair on the other side of the room move and wobble slightly.

Just as if someone invisible had walked directly into it.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

James stood frozen in place as he stared at Hermione. There was no doubt that she had heard and seen them bump into the armchair. A string of rude four letter words played through his head as he tried to think of a way out of this situation.

It was strange, though. He would have expected Hermione to look around the room, wondering what could have bumped the chair but instead she was staring directly at them. Or directly through them since they had on the invisibility cloak. There was no way she could know they were under the cloak, could she?

Beside him, Sirius’s eyes were wide as if he were thinking the same thing as James was. Hermione just continued to stare at the exact spot they were standing. It was unnerving.

Well, now they were screwed. They couldn’t just walk out of the Common Room without her realizing what was happening. He could turn around and go back into the boys dormitory but he couldn’t just abandon Remus just because Hermione may or may not be suspicious of them being under the cloak. They needed a distraction and Sirius must have had the very same thought because they both looked down at Peter, already in rat form, perched on James’s shoulder.

James considered themselves lucky that Peter’s animagus was a rat. There was no way the three of them would be able to fit under the cloak without their feet showing when they went to sneak out of the castle to be with Remus when he transformed. Even just being under it with Sirius was a tad bit too snug. Sadly, it meant that he, Sirius, Peter, and Remus couldn’t go on any adventures together after fourth year since there was absolutely no way the four of them would fit. Their knees would probably show if they tried.

Peter seemed to notice the mischievous look in Sirius’s eyes, the same look he was probably giving him, because Peter seemed to shrink under their stares. Sirius flashed James a grin and nudged him, cocking his head in Hermione’s direction, who still happened to be staring, and then down at Peter and that’s when James knew what to do.

With a quick movement of his arm, James scooped up Peter and began to crouch towards the ground, pulling Sirius down with him so the cloak wouldn’t fall off of them. Silently, he grabbed the end of the cloak and quickly shoved a squirming Peter out from under the cloak in Hermione’s direction.

James’s fist went to his mouth as he stifled a laugh as Peter, who obviously had caught on to what he had to do, charged directly at Hermione squeaking like mad. Something between a startled gasp and squeak escaped Hermione’s lips and James watched as she quickly stood up in surprise, dropped her book, and her eyes grew to the size of bludgers in shock as Peter approached.

It was now or never. James grabbed Sirius by the neck of his robes and yanked him off the ground and towards the portrait hole. While Hermione seemed preoccupied with Peter running around her, James and Sirius climbed through the portrait hole and silently opened the portrait of the Fat Lady. Peter must have realized they opened the portrait from his rat senses or something because James watched as he sprinted towards them, his little rat legs moving as quickly as they could. James threw the bottom of the cloak over Peter and Peter climbed up James’s robes and onto his shoulder, his little mouse body breathing heavily.

The last thing James saw was Hermione staring furiously in their direction, looking incredibly disheveled before he closed the portrait of the Fat Lady, leaving a bewildered Hermione alone in the Common Room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all like the perspective switches. I'll be doing that occasionally. But have no fear, the story will still be told mostly from Hermione's POV! I just feel that multiple character perspectives can add to the story.


	9. Surprises

* * *

Chapter 9 - Surprises

* * *

“I don’t know what happened but these notes are far better than any of the notes you’ve given me in the past,” Hermione heard Remus say from one of the tables in the Gryffindor Common Room.

It was late and he had just gotten back from “visiting his sick mother” and was now looking through his notebooks that James, Peter, and Sirius had just given him as he nibbled on a chocolate bar. Even though she was sitting on the other end of the room, Hermione could tell that he looked paler than usual, and dreadfully tired, but other than that it didn’t look like he caused harm to himself when he was transformed the other night.

“Oh, you’re just saying that, Moony,” grinned Sirius, who sent a wink towards Hermione who was sitting by the fireplace. She playfully rolled her eyes back at him.

“No really… These notes are actually very well written.” he turned towards James with his eyebrow raised. “It was your turn to take notes, right? I’m impressed, you did a very good job, James.”

Hermione watched Sirius turn towards James with a look of disgust in his eyes.

“I knew it was his turn!” yelled Sirius. “You prat! You said it was mine!”

Hermione snickered to herself as she watched Sirius crumpled up a piece of paper and throw it at James who easily dodged it.

“Huh, I guess it was,” said James with a smile.

“So Sirius actually took these notes?” asked Remus, glancing between James, Sirius, and Peter.  “Wait a moment…” He flipped through his other notebooks with a furrowed brow. “This handwriting is way too neat for it to have been either of you three and—wait – are those notes for _Ancient Runes_? None of you are even in Ancient Runes with me!”

Remus looked around at his three friends, who shared guilty expressions, and sighed. “Alright, whose notes did you steal?” he asked calmly.

“We didn’t steal anything,” huffed Sirius, crossing his arms. “Frankly, I’m insulted that you would think we nicked some other student’s notes.”

“Well you lot clearly didn’t write them,” countered Remus as he flipped through one of his notebooks.

Hermione sighed. “Don’t worry, they didn’t steal them,” she called over to them. She didn’t want Remus to think that his friends had actually stolen someone else’s notes.

Remus looked up at her sitting by the fireplace, clearly surprised by her comment. Hermione stood up and walked over to the table where the four boys were sitting and pulled up a chair next to James.

“How do you know?” he blinked as she sat down.

“Because I took those notes for you,” she said as she reached for his Ancient Runes notes and opened them. She then reached into her bag and pulled out her own notebook and opened it next to Remus’s to show that the notes were identical. “See, I took the Ancient Runes notes. You know, since I’m in that class as well.”

Remus stared at her, with his mouth slightly opened. He quickly closed it and turned towards the other boys and raised his eyebrow. Sirius shrugged at him and Remus turned his attention back to Hermione.

“You didn’t have to do that,” said Remus, frowning slightly. Again, he looked between his friends then back at Hermione. “They should have taken them.”

By the looks at it, he seemed slightly embarrassed that she had taken his notes instead of his friends but Hermione had no idea why. They were just notes, it honestly was no big deal to her. She wondered if it had to do with him not wanting her to discover why he was gone.

Hermione gave a small shrug, trying to show that she was oblivious to his situation. “I only did it because they wouldn’t make up their minds as to who was going to take the notes. The idiots wouldn’t stop bickering in the back of class. It was quite annoying, actually. Taking your notebook was the only way to shut them up.”

“We only bickered because we couldn’t remember whose turn it was,” defended Peter.

There was a laugh from beside her and James leaned back in his chair, balancing it on its back legs, and put his hands behind his head. “I guess it was actually Hermione’s turn to take Remus’s notes after all.”

There was a smug look on James’s face and he seemed very pleased with himself. Sirius, however, scowled at his best friend.

“You’re just glad that you got out of your turn!” said Sirius, starting to crumple up another piece of paper.

“You better not be thinking of littering in this Common Room again, Sirius,” said Remus disapprovingly.

Sirius flushed. “Fine. I’ll just do this.” He turned and lightly punched James in the arm instead.

Peter let out a gasp as James’s arms flared as he lost control of his balanced chair and fell backwards to the ground with a thump. A few surrounding students in the common room turned and saw James sprawled on the floor and laughed as James rolled around moaning in a very fake fashion.

“Are you alright, James?” asked Peter with wide eyes, leaning over the table to look at him.

Hermione ignored James on the ground and turned her attention back to Remus as Peter stood up and hurried around the table to help James up.

“Honestly, it was no problem. Taking two sets of notes is actually an incredibly beneficial way for me to remember information,” said Hermione truthfully.

There was still an odd look on Remus’s face. “Thank you, Hermione,” he said with a small smile. “It means a lot that you took these while I— while I was away…”

He paled and his smile fell.  He looked away from Hermione as he suddenly became very interested in organizing his stack of notes.

“I’d be happy to take them whenever you aren’t in class. If these fools continue to take your notes you may never catch up on what you missed,” said Hermione, gesturing towards the situation on the floor next to her.

James was still on the floor faking and Peter, the dolt, was trying with all his might to pull James up, not realizing that James had no desire to get up off of the floor. Sirius sat by, shouting encouragement to Peter telling him to pull James harder.

“Just pull a little harder, Wormtail! I’m sure you can get him up!” said Sirius while James let out a loud, exaggerated, moan from the floor. Sirius then laughed at himself at what he had said.

The two of them ignored Sirius and watched Peter tug at James for a moment before Remus spoke again, with that same odd expression from before. “You don’t have to do that, Hermione.”

That was when Hermione realized why he had a funny expression on his face when he found out she had taken his notes and also why he also had it now. It wasn’t because he thought she might find out about his condition, which she originally had thought. It was because he didn’t want her to pity him. He thought she was only doing it because she felt bad for him, not because she wanted too. His pride had been hurt.

Knowing she had to be careful about what she said next Hermione mustered up the friendliest voice she could. “I know I don’t have to, I want to. What are friends for?”

The use of the word “friends” must have had a bigger impact than she thought. Remus met Hermione’s eye and smiled his little crooked smile. Lily had mentioned to Hermione how the Marauders were sad that she had been ignoring them. Maybe this was a turning point.

“What are friends for,” Remus repeated back to her with a smile.

.:~*~*~*~*~:. 

Hermione began to get closer to the Marauders the longer she was there. When she had told Remus she was his friend she had meant in. She liked being around the Marauders. James and Sirius were the jokesters that kept everything interesting. There was never a dull moment when she was around them. Remus, well Remus, was the one that kept her from going crazy due to James and Sirius’s shenanigans. He was always so calm, well mannered, and he and Hermione were probably the sole reason anyone ever got any assignments done. Hermione didn’t include Peter as a friend and she felt no guilt over it. Peter must have felt the same way because he didn’t speak to her just as much as she didn’t speak to him.

Trying to divide her time between the boys and Mary and Lily was slightly difficult. Yes, Lily seemed to be warming up to the boys but she still wasn’t at the point where she would spend all her time with them. Mary, on the other hand, didn’t really seem to want to spend any time with them. It wasn’t that she didn’t like them. She got along with them fine – except Sirius, Sirius seemed to piss her off for some reason – she just had other groups of friends that she would hang out with, particularly a group of Hufflepuff girls in their year.

Since she lived with Mary and Lily, and usually sat with them during classes, Hermione spent a lot of her free time with the boys. However, that Sunday, she didn’t want to spend time with anyone.

Hermione woke up late that morning. Even in her own time, Hermione always went to breakfast, even on the weekends, but today she missed it. She slept right through it and she did it purposely.

When she had woken up, Lily and Mary were already gone. It was a strange feeling, waking up in the dormitory alone, since she was usually the first one up. She had been awake for a little over an hour now and spent a good portion of that time crying.

It was because today was September 19th. If she had never left her own time, today would have been her seventeenth birthday. Well, it still would be her seventeenth birthday… or maybe it would technically be her negative third birthday since she wasn’t even born in this timeline yet.

All she wanted was for the day to end before it even began. There would be no Harry and Ron to spend the day with, no common room party with stolen food from the kitchens by the Weasley twins, no gifts – not that she cared –, and no letter and package from her parents. Thinking of her parents sent a pain through her chest. This would be the first time she would not hear from them on her birthday.

The door of her dormitory creaked open slowly and Hermione could see a small beam of light come into the room from behind the closed scarlet curtains of her four-poster bed.

“Hermione?” asked a low voice cautiously. “Hermione, are you alright?”

Hermione just groaned and put her head under her pillow and pulled her blanket over her. If she ignored the voice maybe it would go away.

“Maybe she’s sick,” whispered another voice.

“Hermione, are you sick?” said the first voice, which Hermione now identified as Lily’s. “You never sleep this late.”

“Should we get McGonagall or Madam Pomfrey?” whispered the other voice, which belonged to Mary, when Hermione didn’t respond.

The last thing Hermione wanted was to be made a spectacle of and have someone call someone for her.

“I’m not sick…” mumbled Hermione.

She could hear Lily and Mary whispering to each other and Hermione just wanted them to leave her to mope around in self-pity in peace.

“Then something’s wrong. What’s the matter, Hermione?” asked Mary softly. Hermione could hear the concern in her voice and it made her feel a little better to hear that the two girls cared.

“I’m—I’m just tired is all…” said Hermione. It wasn’t necessarily a _lie_ but it wasn’t the main reason she wanted to stay in bed.

“The lunch block will end soon, Hermione,” said Lily in a soft comforting voice. “Please come and eat something, you’ve already missed breakfast.”

“I’m not hungry,” said Hermione, and if on cue, her stomach betrayed her and let out a growl. She cursed herself and stuffed her face deeper into her pillow.

“You sure sound not hungry to me,” said Mary and Hermione could hear the smile in her voice. “If you really don’t want to get up we could bring you some food from the Great Hall.”

Hermione sighed. Maybe she should get up. If she just stayed in bed all day she would probably just feel worse later on. She would just over think things all day and have no distractions from her own poisonous thoughts. Plus, if she got up, she could throw herself into her classwork to distract herself.

“Fine, I’ll come to lunch,” said Hermione, forcing herself to sit up in bed. “I’ll meet you guys downstairs in a few minutes.”

“Great, see you in a bit,” said Lily.

The dormitory door shut and Hermione pulled open the curtains around her bed open. The dormitory was dark and still around her. None of the torches were lit and the curtains on the window were drawn shut. Hermione walked to the window by her bed and opened the curtains, letting in the afternoon light. It instantly made her feel slightly better.

She quickly dressed in jeans and a blouse, not even bothering with her robes since it was the weekend. Her hair was even more of a mess than usual due to her lying in bed all morning. There was nothing she could really do with it so she quickly tied it in a plait to keep it from getting too out of control. Grabbing her schoolbag, she left the dormitory.

Lily and Mary were waiting for her by the fireplace when she entered the common room a few minutes later. They both gave her a smile but Hermione could see the worry in their eyes.

“Ready?” asked Lily.

She just nodded and the three of them walked to the Great Hall.

Lunch wasn’t very eventful. Hermione was distracted for most of it and only spoke when directly spoken to despite Lily and Mary’s many attempts to include her in the conversation. She couldn’t help but stare longingly around the Great Hall hoping that maybe, just maybe, an owl would come with something for her but she knew it was no use. Anyone that would have sent her something either hadn’t been born yet or had no idea she existed.

“Hermione?” said Lily with a worried look from across the table.

She looked up at Lily who stared at her strangely. “Yes?”

“I asked if those sandwiches were good,” said Lily, pointing at Hermione’s barely touched plate.

“Oh,” said Hermione. She hadn’t been paying attention and now Lily and Mary were giving her very worried looks. “Yeah, they’re good,” she said mindlessly. “You can take them if you’d like.”

But Lily didn’t take a sandwich.

“Are you sure you’re not sick?” asked Lily.

“I don’t feel sick, no,” said Hermione.

“If you say so…” said Mary and she sent an unbelieving look to Lily.

“Actually, I think I’m going to go to the library and study,” said Hermione beginning to stand up.

“What? Wait—” said Lily but Hermione was already halfway down the table.

She felt really bad for just ditching Lily and Mary but she honestly needed the time alone. It had now been almost exactly three months since she left her time and landed twenty years in the past. She wasn’t any closer to finding a way home, she hadn’t seen her friends or family for three months and now she didn’t even have them on her birthday.

The library had always been a safe haven for Hermione. There was a great sense of comfort being surrounded by tens of thousands of books lining the thousands of shelves. The stone walls and wooden floors created a relaxing atmosphere.

As soon as she entered she immediately went and grabbed a copy of _Hogwarts: A History_. She was glad that there were copies left of the shelf. Feeling the book in her hands was a comfort in itself. It had been her favorite book for years and while she was there over the summer she had read it numerous times. Since term had started, she hadn’t had a chance to come to the library just to read it. Not having her own copy with her still bothered her. She would have to buy her one in this timeline.

She found an unoccupied corner, deep in the library, and sat down, abandoning her schoolbag for _Hogwarts: A History._ The corner she had chosen was reasonably secluded and surrounded by books. To one side of her was the stone wall of the library and the other was a large window that showed the Hogwarts grounds. Hermione could think of no better way to possibly feel relaxed and empty her mind.

Hours passed and the window showed how the grounds were no longer lit up by the sun but instead covered in early evening shadows. There was a very good chance that she had missed dinner but she didn’t care. This time she honestly didn’t feel hungry.

There was the sound of approaching footsteps and Hermione looked up from her book. She peered through the piles of books surrounding her and saw a figure looking up and down the aisles around her. Whoever it was, they seemed to be looking for something.

She slightly shifted her position from behind the books to get a better look when the figure turned and looked directly at her, their green eyes looking right into hers.

“Hermione?” said Remus. He slowly walked towards her as she quickly tried to hide back behind the books.

The top of one of the piles was lifted up, revealing Hermione’s hiding spot, as Remus moved it to the side.

“I thought you weren’t avoiding us?” he said with a sad smile as he placed the books on a desk.

“I’m not avoiding anyone,” she sighed. “I just needed to be alone.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not particularly,” she said. He looked slightly hurt. “Sorry,” she added.

Remus shrugged and he moved some of the books to sit down next to Hermione. It was a little snug in the corner but it wasn’t uncomfortable.

“That’s a very interesting read,” he said, pointing to the copy of _Hogwarts: A History_ in Hermione’s lap.

Hermione smiled at him, “You’ve read it?”

“Of course,” he smiled back. “I’m a little surprised that you’re reading it, though.”

Finally someone else had read it! She had been trying to get Harry and Ron to read the book for ages now. At least there was someone here she could talk about it with.

“I read it before I came here,” she said. “It’s truly fascinating. It’s probably my favorite book.”

It _was_ her favorite book but she couldn’t let Remus know that without him becoming suspicious.

“I guess it helped influence you in transferring here,” he smiled.

Hermione nodded.

“What were you doing snooping around the library anyway?” she asked him, trying to change the subject. She would talk to him about the book some other time.

His smile wavered for a second. “Lily sent me. She’s worried about you.”

A wave of warmth went through Hermione as she thought of Lily. Of course she had been worried and sent Remus to find her.

“Where’s the rest of the gang?” asked Hermione. It was rare seeing Remus without James, Sirius, or Peter. The only time he wasn’t with them was in Ancient Runes or when he had prefect duty with Lily.

“Sirius and Peter are in the common room. James was at Quidditch practice when I left to come here but I’m guessing it’s over and he’s probably up there with Sirius and Peter now, it’s getting late,” said Remus. He paused for a moment before continuing. “Lily wanted me to bring you back to the common room.”

“Oh,” she said softly. “I don’t know, Remus…”

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?” he asked.

He gave her such a sincere look that she felt herself break. The tears she had suppressed since that morning started building up in her eyes and she tried her best to hold them back but failed. At this point, Remus was looking extremely concerned and looked at a loss for words as Hermione put her face on his shoulder and softly cried silent tears. He didn’t push her away like she had expected – after all, she was acting ridiculous – but he let her use his shoulder for comfort. They stayed like that for a few moments. Hermione on his shoulder and Remus patting her back.

“It’s my birthday…” she finally whispered.

Remus shifted in position and she was sure he was staring down at her. She craned her neck up and looked at his surprised face.

“Is that why you’re upset?” he asked. There was no sign of humor in his voice like she had expected and she nodded. “You’re homesick.”

It wasn’t a question and Hermione straightened up in her own chair and stopped leaning on Remus. She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. With a shaky laugh she smiled somberly. “I miss my friends.”

Remus nodded in understanding. Another moment passed as they sat together in silence.

“Just so you know, I won’t force you to go back to the common room but you can’t stay here,” he said, breaking the silence. Hermione looked at him in confusion. “The library closes in ten minutes and Madam Pince won’t like us being here.”

Ten minutes? Hermione hadn’t realize that it was already nearing eight. Nearly six hours had passed since she came to the library.

“But just beware, curfew is in an hour and I don’t want to have to give you a detention.” He jokingly gave his Prefect badge a shake and smiled.

“Alright, fine. I’ll go back to the common room,” sighed Hermione. A few years ago she had accidentally stayed in the library past its closing and being scolded by Madam Pince was not something she wanted to experience again.

On the way out of the library, Hermione returned her book and she and Remus made their way back to Gryffindor tower.

The common room was crowded due to it being so close to curfew and James and Sirius were entertaining a group of onlookers in front of the fire with a game of exploding snaps. Of course, Peter was in the front row and cheered loudly as a card exploded in Sirius’s hand leaving a small cloud of black smoke.

“Hermione!” called Lily. She smiled and got up from a chair in the back of the common room and hurried over to Hermione. “How are you?”

“I’m fine, really Lily,” insisted Hermione and she returned Lily’s smile. “I’m sorry for acting so strangely earlier.”

“Don’t even think about it,” said Lily carelessly, with a wave of her arm. “I’m glad Remus brought you back.”

A groan came from the crowd around James and Sirius as Hermione saw Remus whisper something in James’s ear. She hadn’t even seen Remus leave her side when they entered the common room but whatever he was saying upset the crowd because James and Sirius stopped their game.

“Don’t worry, guys,” grinned Sirius to the small crowd in front of him. “We’ll be back!”

The crowd murmured as James and Sirius ran up the stairs towards the boys’ dormitories and returned shortly. Instead of going back in front of the fire, they made their way to the portrait hole.

“It’s almost curfew!” called out Lily to them. “You’ll get caught!”

James sent her a wicked grin. “I’m positive that no one will catch us, Evans. But thanks for voicing your concern for us.”

Hermione was sure that she saw him pat his bag where she had a good notion that the invisibility cloak and Marauder’s map were tucked safely away in it.

“Don’t worry, Lily,” said Remus who reappeared beside Hermione. “If they get caught then it’s just one more detention they’ll have this year.”

Remus left again and went over to talk to Peter so Hermione joined Lily at the table she had been sitting at when she came in. A few minutes after James and Sirius had left, the portrait hole opened and Mary climbed in and joined them at the table. The three of them talked for a while and Hermione was grateful that neither of them brought up Hermione’s “episode” from earlier.

About half an hour after the disappearance of James and Sirius, the portrait swung open and in crawled the two boys with huge, satisfied, smiles on their faces. Their arms were piled high with snacks and bottles of butterbeer.

“Told you we’d be back!” yelled Sirius as he and James dumped their stolen goods on the nearest table. His eyes found Hermione through the crowd and pointed at her with a huge grin. “Now let’s have a party for the birthday girl!”

“Cheers to Hermione Dawson on her seventeenth birthday!” shouted James, holding up a bottle of butterbeer in her direction. “Without her, Gryffindor would have considerably less points!”

Hermione’s mouth dropped open and she felt her face start to burn as every head in the common room turned towards her. Lily looked just as shocked as she felt. There was a rush of people coming up to her wishing her a happy birthday as they made their way to get food.

Remus sent her a wink from the other side of the room.

“It’s your birthday?” gaped Lily, not even trying to hide her surprise.

“That’s why you’ve been so distant today!” said Mary.

At that moment, James and Sirius walked up to them with butterbeers in their hands.

“Here you are, birthday girl,” said Sirius handing Hermione a bottle. “And one for you,” he handed one to Mary with a wink and Mary pursed her lips as she took it.

“Let’s not forget Evans,” grinned James and he handed a bottle to Lily who accepted it with a small smile.

Sirius moved to beside Hermione and lowered his voice. “This was actually Remus’s idea but Prongs and I plan on taking full credit. Happy Birthday.”

With a wink and salute, he and James walked back into the crowd and joined the party.

“Why didn’t you tell us it was your birthday!” said Lily as she opened her bottle of butterbeer.

“Because I didn’t want a big deal to be made,” sighed Hermione. She took a sip of her butterbeer and let the sweet liquid warm her body. “As you see, my plan backfired.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, how come it being your birthday makes you so upset?” asked Mary. “Most people love celebrating their birthday, especially when they turn of age.”

Before she could answer, Lily spoke up with a sudden realization, “In the Great Hall earlier,” she said, “During lunch, you kept looking around as if you were waiting for mail. Did you not hear from your friends? Was that why you were upset?

Hermione’s chest tightened at the thought of her friends. “No I haven’t heard from them,” _because they aren’t even born yet_ she thought. “It just didn’t feel right not being able to spend my birthday with my friends,” said Hermione, taking another sip of her drink.

“Well, you’re here celebrating your birthday with your new friends,” said Mary with a smile and nod. “Now let’s celebrate.”

Mary took Hermione and Lily’s arms and dragged them into the party.

The food that had been taken from the kitchen was delicious and Hermione was grateful for it since she had missed dinner. When Hermione had believed that there wouldn’t be a party with stolen food by Fred and George she had been right. This time the party was planned by Remus and the food was stolen by James and Sirius. Even though she couldn’t be with Harry and Ron she had Lily and Mary and that wasn’t so bad. It was a night she never would have expected in her wildest dreams.

And it was clearly a birthday she’d never forget.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

September ended and the first day of October arrived with an unexpected heatwave. All around the school students were rolling the sleeves of their robes up, desperately trying to keep cool. One boy, the Ravenclaw that Hermione had Charms class with that had called out, constantly was using the _Augamenti_ charm on himself as he walked down the corridor, leaving a trail of water behind him. Filch spent the entire day with a mop in his hand, trying to catch him but with no such luck.

No one knew why it was so hot that Friday on the first day of October. If anything, it felt like June. The sun was shining and once the last block of classes ended almost the entire school was spending time outside, including Hermione.

As soon as class ended Lily and Mary had talked Hermione into joining them by the lake and they were now sitting with their shoes and socks off at the edge of the lake, their feet hanging in the water of the dazzlingly smooth surface of the lake. Although Hermione initially wanted to get started on her weekend’s homework, she had to admit the cool water did feel amazing and did a marvelous job of cooling her off.

“Out of all the years I’ve spent at Hogwarts, it had never been this hot in October,” said Mary as she wiggled her toes under the water.

“I’d sit here all day if I could,” sighed Lily with a smile, closing her eyes. “It feels so lovely now.”

“It’s not lovely, it’s hot,” said Mary rolling her eyes and using her hand to fan herself. “This better be a onetime thing. If October continues to stay this hot I may die.”

“Stop being so overly dramatic,” said Lily. She kicked her foot and splashed water in Mary’s direction. Mary gasped as she got hit with the cool water and kicked some right back at Lily.

All hell broke loose as Mary and Lily splashed water at each other, yelling and laughing hysterically. Hermione tried to shield her book bag from the water but she grinned as she watched the two of them.

From somewhere behind her, Hermione could hear someone give an enthusiastic cheer followed by voice, undeniably Sirius’s, saying loudly, “put that away, will you? Before Wormtail wets himself from excitement.”

Hermione looked over her shoulder and saw the Marauders a few yards away. Sirius and Peter where watching James play around with a golden snitch and Remus was reading a book. They were sitting in the shade of a beech tree on the edge of the lake; the very same beech tree that she, Harry, and Ron had spent the day doing homework under last year. The memory brought a bittersweet smile to her face.

“James and that stupid snitch,” grumbled Lily. She and Mary had finished their water battle and she too was watching the Marauders. “He isn’t even the seeker, he’s a chaser!”

“It makes him feel cool,” shrugged Mary. “Who cares what they’re doing anyway?”

But Hermione couldn’t stop watching the boys. Another group of girls sitting a little while away were also watching the Marauders; they looked at James and Sirius longingly causing Hermione to roll her eyes. She watched as James stuffed the snitch in his pocket. Of course Sirius would be the only one to be able to make James stop showing off…

“Just ignore them, Hermione,” said Mary trying to pull Hermione’s attention away from the boys. “They’re being stupid.”

Hermione turned away and stared back at the lake. “James could get in trouble for stealing that snitch,” she mused.

“Then today wouldn’t be any different from any other day when James lands himself in detention,” snorted Mary. Hermione laughed and Lily shook her head with a small smile.

James did find himself in detention often. Usually accompanied with Sirius. They managed to get themselves in detention at least once a week for their pranks, hexes on other students, or their nightly strolls around the castle. One would think that someone who owned an invisibility cloak would not get caught so easily but this obviously was not the case for James.

“All right, Snivellus?” yelled James causing the three girls to look back over to him.

They were not the only ones staring along with the other group of girls now. It seemed that everyone in the vicinity was staring at James, who was now standing alongside Sirius. Peter sat, looking on with a great sense of anticipation while Remus was still sitting against the tree with his book, but he was looking up with his brows furrowed in worry. James had this gleam in his eyes as he called out to Snape who had appeared from behind some bushes.

Hermione heard Lily gasp as Snape reacted instantaneously by dropping his bag and diving into his robes for his wand. Even with Snape’s instant reaction he was no match for James, who quickly disarmed him. Sirius howled with laughter from beside James.

“ _Impedimenta!_ ” said James as Snape tried to dive for his wand, which had flown into the grass behind him. Snape was almost at his wand when he was knocked off of his feet and into the grass.

A crowd had gathered around to watch the fight between Snape and James. Peter was now standing and looking on hungrily. While some of crowd looked on in distaste, Hermione was disgusted to see that most of them seemed thoroughly entertained to see James attacking Snape. For the first time in her life, Hermione felt bad for her potions professor.

“Lily, _no!_ ” gasped Mary. Hermione turned towards the two girls as Lily jumped to her feet and started moving angrily towards the boys; her face set in vengeful determination. She never ended up making it, Mary had moved too quickly and was now up from the edge of the lake and holding Lily back. “You don’t want to get involved!”

“Like hell I don’t!” said Lily, her green eyes blazing.

Hermione too was now standing and trying to help Mary who was struggling with a squirming Lily. Lily sent Mary such a livid look that Hermione was surprised that Mary hadn’t faltered or let Lily go because of it. In the month that she had known her, Hermione had never seen Lily look so angry.

Snape was now staring up at James with a look of the purest loathing. He was muttering a mix of swear words and hexes. Not that the hexes did anything since his wand still lay in the grass behind him.

James’s eyes narrowed as he stared down at Snape. Clearly not pleased with his language.

“Wash out your mouth,” he said coldly before he raised his wand again. “ _Scourgify!_ ”

Pink bubbles started to pour from Snape’s mouth and Hermione felt sick as he started to choke and gag on them. Beside her, Mary’s hands were covering her own mouth in shock. Neither of them realized that Mary had released Lily when her hands went to her mouth until they heard Lily yell.

“Leave him ALONE!” she yelled as she marched up to them, still barefoot from the lake.

Hermione moved closer to them in an attempt to follow Lily but Mary grabbed her arm and held her back before she got all the way there. “No,” whispered Mary. “I think Lily needs to do this on her own.” Hermione huffed and crossed her arms. It was taking all of her willpower not to go and yell along with Lily but Mary had a point. This seemed like something Lily had to get out of her system.

As Lily approached, Sirius and James turned to face her and James’s hand automatically went through his hair to make it messier.

“All right, Evans?” James asked in a pleasant tone while Snape continued to choke on bubbles on the ground beside him.

“Leave him alone,” said Lily darkly. She was giving James a look of pure disgust. “What’s he done to you?”

“Well,” James paused and pretended to think for a moment before continuing, “it’s more of the fact that he _exists_ , if you know what I mean…”

Around him the crowd laughed but no one laughed harder than Sirius and Peter. Hermione noticed that Remus at least had the decency not to laugh but she was angry that he just sat there and did nothing to control his friends. After all, he was a prefect! Instead, he seemed to be staring intently at his book trying his best to ignore the situation next to him.

Lily didn’t laugh either.

“You think you’re funny,” said Lily angrily. “But you’re just an arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter. Leave him _alone_.”

If Hermione thought that Lily had been softening up to James over the past month she had been wrong. Lily seemed to despise James.  How in the world did these two end up married?

“I will if you go out with me, Evans,” said James quickly. “Go on… Go out with me, and I’ll never lay a wand on old Snivelly again.”

If Snape had been looking at James with hatred before he had said this, it was nothing compared to the rage in Snape’s eyes now. The impedimenta jinx was wearing off and Snape spat out pink soapsuds as he slowly pulled himself towards his fallen wand.

“I wouldn’t go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid,” spat Lily.

“Bad luck, Prongs,” said Sirius to James before looking back at Snape who was almost at his wand. “OI!”

Sirius’s warning was too late. Snape had reached his wand and aimed it directly at James. There was a flash of light and Hermione watched as a gash appeared on James’s cheek, dripping blood onto his robes.

James spun around, a look of fury in his eyes and aimed his wand at Snape. There was another flash of light and Snape was hanging upside down with his robes falling over his head to show his skinny, pale legs and his underpants.

The crowd around them cheered while James, Peter, and Sirius laughed.

The furious expression on Lily’s face wavered slightly and Hermione swore she almost smirked before her fury returned. “Let him down!” she yelled.

James grinned at her. “Certainly.” He waved his wand and Snape fell to the ground in a heap. It took him a moment to unravel himself from being caught in his robes before he jumped up with his wand pointing at James.

He wasn’t quick enough as Sirius yelled, “ _Petrificus Totalus!_ ” and Snape went rigid and once again fell to the ground.

“LEAVE HIM ALONE!” yelled Lily. She reached into her robes and pulled out her own wand.

“We have to do something!” Hermione said to Mary but Mary was just watching with her mouth slightly open, not seeming to hear Hermione.

“Ah, Evans, don’t make me hex you,” groaned James.

“Take the curse off him, then!” said Lily.

With a defeated sigh, James turned towards Snape and waved his wand and undid the spell.

“There you go,” he sighed as Snape struggled to his feet. “You’re lucky Evans was here, Snivellus—”

“I don’t need help from filthy little mudbloods like her!” Snape yelled at James.

The color drained from Lily’s face as she took in what Snape had said. She blinked. “Fine,” she said blankly. “I won’t bother in the future. And I’d wash my pants if I were you, _Snivellus_.”

“Apologize to Evans!” roared James. He pointed his wand back at Snape and his eyes were filled with rage.

“I don’t want _you_ to make him apologize! You’re just as bad as he is…” Lily spat.

“What?” asked James in aghast. “I’d NEVER call you a – a you-know-what!”

“Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you’ve just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can – I’m surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK.”

She looked as though she was going to cry and she turned away from James and quickly walked in the direction of the castle.

“Evans!” James shouted after her, “Hey, EVANS!”

Yet, she did not turn around.

“I’m going after her,” said Mary and she took off after Lily, calling her name.

“What is it with her?” demanded James trying to hide how hurt he was as he watched her walk away.

“Reading between the lines, I’d say she thinks you’re a bit conceited, mate,” stated Sirius as he watched Lily and Mary walk out of sight.

“Right,” said James looking furious. “Right—”

James turned back to Snape and flicked his wand. There was a third flash of light and Snape was back in the air, upside down again.

“Who wants to see me take off Snively’s pants?” called James.

There were cheers and shouts of encouragement from the crowd who seemed to loath Snape even more after what he had said to Lily.

“Stop!” yelled Hermione. There was no Lily to fight this fight and no Mary to hold her back. She couldn’t stand by and let this happen. She ran up to where James was standing and stood between him and Snape. “Just let him be!”

James stared at her with wide eyes. “You heard what he said to Evans! Don’t you dare defend him, Dawson!”

Hermione stared him down for a moment before pulling out her own wand. James eyed it carefully but Hermione had no desire to use it on him. Instead, she turned around and waved it at Snape and he fell back to the ground.

“Get out of here,” she called out to him.

“I didn’t need help from one mudblood what makes you think I wanted help from another?” he spat at her.

“Hey!” called Remus who had abandoned his book and was finally standing, looking on in anger.

“How DARE you?” shouted Sirius

“Don’t talk to her like that!” yelled James at the same time. He and Sirius pointed their wands threateningly at Snape.

“No!” yelled Hermione, moving in front of their wands. “Don’t!” She turned towards Snape and narrowed her eyes and said as icily as possible, “Just go before I change my mind.”

Sneering, Snape pulled himself off the ground, grabbed his bag and hurried off towards the castle.

“And you lot can clear out!” she yelled towards the on looking crowd.

The surrounding people sent her odd looks and murmured as they slowly broke apart and went about their own business. Hermione turned back towards the Marauders, who were wearing looks of anger.

“You shouldn’t have let him go, Hermione,” said James. “Not after what he called you and Lily.”

“I’m used to it,” growled Hermione and all four boys’ eyes widened and they looked shocked.

“Are you alright, Hermione?” asked Remus cautiously as he took a step towards her.

“No, I’m not alright!” yelled Hermione. She turned towards James, Sirius, and Peter. “You guys are awful! And you—” she turned towards Remus. “You’re just as bad as them for not trying to stop them! You just let it happen! I had higher expectations of you!”

Furious, Hermione turned away from them and walked back to the edge of the lake. Lily and Mary had both left their shoes by the water and Hermione picked them up and put them in her bag before quickly slipping into her own shoes.

“Hermione, wait—”

But Hermione ignored them and started walking back towards the castle to find Lily. The boys didn’t bother following her.

Hermione didn’t enjoy the walk back to the castle. She was feeling infuriated after what she had just witnessed. She no longer felt any sympathy towards Snape. Although James had attacked Snape unprovoked, that didn’t excuse what he had said to Lily and herself. Lily had every right to be upset by it.

And the Marauders! They were all a bunch of bullies! Snape had always said James was arrogant and she couldn’t help but agree with him. The behavior James and Sirius displayed was disgusting and the fact that Peter egged them on and Remus didn’t do anything to stop it was just as bad. She couldn’t believe that Remus would just let that happen… Out of all of them he had the most sense, he could have made them stop.

The common room was empty due the heat; everyone was still outside. Hermione walked through it and started to make her way up to her dormitory. As she neared the door, it opened and Mary came out, closing the door quietly behind her. Mary gave a little jump when she turned and saw Hermione.

“Blimey, Hermione…” she gasped and her hand went to her chest. “I didn’t see you coming.”

“How’s Lily?” asked Hermione.

Mary frowned and shook her head. “I think she just needs some time alone.”

“You and Lily forgot your shoes, by the way,” said Hermione reaching into her bag and pulling out Mary’s shoes.

“Thanks,” smiled Mary as she took them. “Here, let’s get out of the stairwell.”

The two of them walked down the stairs and into the common room. They sat down on one of the couches and sat silently for a moment. Mary put her shoes back on.

“I can’t believe that happened…” muttered Hermione, breaking the silence.

“I’m not surprised,” sighed Mary, crossing his arms. “It was bound to happen sooner or later. I never liked Snape.”

“What did Lily even see in him?” asked Hermione. She could never make any sense out of the friendship between Lily and Snape, it was too strange.

The look on Mary’s face gave Hermione the impression that the story she was about to tell had been told to her many times.

“Lily’s family lives in Cokeworth. You know, in England? Well, Snape’s family lives there as well; in the same neighborhood. They’ve known each other since they were nine.”

This was definitely news to Hermione.

“He was the one that first realized she was a witch,” continued Mary. “Lily’s sister, Petunia – who sounds like a nasty piece of work to me from what I’ve heard – treated Lily awfully when she found out. At that point, Snape was the only other magical person that she knew. They became friends and stayed friends until about ten minutes ago by the looks of it…”

Why hadn’t anyone ever mentioned in her time that Lily has been good childhood friends with Snape? Everyone must have known… Dumbledore, McGonagall, Sirius, and Lupin all knew and no one said anything. Why hadn’t anyone told _Harry_ that his mother had been friends with Snape? All those years of Harry not trusting him could have been avoided by telling him that. Would Harry have trusted Snape and given him more of a chance if he had known? Hermione wasn’t so sure. Maybe he was better off not knowing.

“I’m honestly surprised that they even lasted this long. They’re so different from one another,” said Hermione.

Mary snorted. “More like exact opposites. Everyone Lily has befriended has been the anti-Snape. She has always had very kind friends. Look at you and Remus, for example. She was also good friends with Alice Fortescue and Marlene McKinnon before they graduated last year. Both of them Gryffindors and both of them very nice.”

“And you,” added Hermione and Mary smiled reluctantly.

“Yes, and me… but I wasn’t always supportive of Lily, especially last year,” said Mary, her smile fading.

“What happened last year?” asked Hermione. She couldn’t imagine Lily and Mary not getting along. Especially since they were the only Gryffindor girls in their year.

“Snape’s friends happened,” said Mary, her brown eyes seemed to grow darker at whatever memory she was thinking about. “Have you have the misfortune of meeting Mulciber and Avery? The Slytherin blokes that sit in the very back of the Potions classroom and hang around Snape at meals?”

Hermione knew exactly who Mary was talking about. They were both fairly large for sixteen year olds and each had equally awful sneers for faces. There was something incredibly creepy about the two boys. When she first heard their names she had recognized them from her own time. Mulciber and Avery were both Death Eaters and both of them were at the Department of Mysteries fighting against Dumbledore’s Army. 

“They’re evil, Hermione,” said Mary when Hermione didn’t reply. “Especially Mulciber. And I don’t mean evil in a teenage arsehole type of way. I mean _evil_ ,” she lowered her voice even though the common room was empty. “They use Dark Magic.”

“How do you know?” asked Hermione widening her eyes. Of course she already knew this but how on earth would Mary know?

“Last year, I was leaving the toilet when I heard footsteps behind me. When I turned around, Mulciber was walking towards me. Avery was by his side, and Mulciber called me a blood traitor for being friends with Lily. I turned to walk away when I was hit by some spell. I remember feeling like I couldn’t breathe… like all the air was being sucked out of me.”

Hermione gasped and her hand went to her mouth and Mary shuddered slightly at the memory.

“It was like I was drowning but out of water,” said Mary slowly, shaking her head. “The last thing I remembered was the sound of Mulciber and Avery laughing. Someone else was coming and I saw the two of them run away before I passed out and woke up a week later in the hospital wing. If that other person hadn’t found me, who knows what could have happened. I never could prove it was them since I had my back turned but I’m positive it was Mulciber.”

“It sounds pretty obvious that is was them and that sounds like very dark magic!” gasped Hermione. “You could have died! How could they get away with that?”

“There were no witnesses,” said Mary bitterly. There was definitely no sound of forgiveness in her voice and Hermione didn’t blame her. “I didn’t talk to Lily for a while after I left the Hospital. I had tried to convince her to stay away from them but she kept defending Snape, saying it wasn’t his fault because he wasn’t even there. Still, he’s friends with those two and who’s to say he wasn’t actually there?” she scoffed and crossed her arms. “Lily ended up getting in a fight with him a few weeks later anyway and she apologized to me and we’ve been fine ever since. Thinking back, I probably shouldn’t have taken my anger for them out on her…”

“I’m sure she didn’t blame you, Mary,” Hermione tried to comfort her.

Mary laughed bitterly. “Of course she didn’t! Because Lily deserves better than all of us. And she certainly deserves better than Snape and it kills me that it had to come to this for her to see it.”

Hermione and Mary continued to talk on the couch for a while. They stayed in the Common Room instead of going up to the dormitory to give Lily as much time and space as she needed. It started to get dark out and more and more people entered the common room. None of the Marauders made an appearance.

A muffled yell came from outside of the portrait hole and Hermione and Mary looked up and then at each other. Another yell came followed by a thump on the portrait and more heads around the room looked up in confusion.

“What-?” started Hermione. She stood up and was followed by Mary.

They walked up to the portrait hole and started to crawl through as they heard another person yell. With a quick glance at Mary, Hermione pushed the portrait open.

Standing in front of the portrait was none other than Severus Snape, looking extremely pissed off. Around him stood a bunch of Gryffindor first years looking frightened.

“What do you think you’re doing, Snape?” demanded Mary as she climbed out of the portrait.

“This Slytherin keeps trying to get into the Common Room!” piped up a small blonde boy who was pointing at Snape. “We wouldn’t give up the password but he keeps yelling and trying to make us!”

“And he tried to bang on the Portrait of the Fat Lady!” said one of the first year girls.

Mary sent a daggered look towards Snape and he actually recoiled at it. She looked down on the group of first years. “Go on, then. Get in the common room, we’ll deal with _him_.” She seemed to spit the last word with as much venom as she could and the first years hurried past her and climbed through the portrait hole.

“Should I get Professor McGonagall?” asked Hermione, looking at Mary.

“No!” yelled Snape, looking slightly frightened now.

“And why shouldn’t we?” demanded Mary. “I’m sure she’d love to know that you’re yelling at first years and trying to break into our common room.”

“Please, Mary… Let me talk to Lily,” he begged.

“Absolutely not!” said Mary.

He turned towards Hermione. “Hermione... I’m sorry about what I called you and Lily. It was an accident! Please, just let me explain to Lily.”

Mary quickly turned to Hermione, her mouth open. “He called you one as well?” she demanded.

“Yes,” muttered Hermione who was still staring at Snape. He was now on his knees, looking incredibly pathetic.

“I didn’t mean it!” His dark eyes were wide as he stared at Hermione. He had obviously given up trying to convince Mary who, by the look of her, would have liked nothing better than to squash him like a cockroach.

“You should leave before James and Sirius come back, Severus,” said Hermione. Snape’s eyes narrowed at their names. “I saved you from them earlier but I doubt I can stop them again if they catch you here.”

Snape clearly didn’t like admitting that Hermione had been the one to stop James and Sirius from doing any serious damage to his person but he held back his protest.

“I just want to apologize to Lily,” he said slowly.

“She doesn’t want to speak to you,” said Mary.

“Then I’ll sleep here! I’ll stay here all night and talk to her when she leaves the common room tomorrow!”

Mary’s eyes narrowed. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Do you want to bet on that, Macdonald?” sneered Snape.

Hermione turned towards Mary. “Maybe we should just get Lily,” she whispered. “She’s the only one that will convince him to leave.”

“Fine,” said Mary, her face softening. “I’ll get her.”

Mary went to get Lily and Hermione was now alone with Snape who was still kneeling on the floor.

“I really am sorry,” he said to her once the portrait closed behind Mary.

“No you’re not,” said Hermione, trying to keep a neutral tone. “If you were really sorry, and it really had been just an accident, you wouldn’t have called me a Mudblood as well.”

Snape’s eyebrow raised at her casual use of the word but he shook his head and grew angry again.

“It’s Potter and Black’s fault! It wouldn’t have happened if they hadn’t attacked me!”

“Don’t think we aren’t angry with them as well. We’ll deal them with later. Lily was trying to help you and how did you repay her?” said Hermione and Snape gave her a look of loathing.

Behind her, the portrait opened and Mary came out with Lily behind her. It looked as though Lily had been preparing to go to bed early. She was already in her dressing gown, had slippers on, and was wearing a look of distaste. The moment he saw her, Snape immediately stood up and took a step forward but Lily put her hand up and he stopped.

“What do you want, Severus,” she sighed, crossing her arm.

“I wanted to apologize for what I called you…” he said quickly.

“And for what you called Hermione?” asked Lily and Snape’s mouth fell open. “Did you think Mary wouldn’t tell me?”

Snape sent the dirtiest look at Mary who stared him down.

“I think you should leave,” said Lily.

“Just hear me out!” he begged.

Lily sent a look to Hermione and Mary. “Can you give us a minute?”

Before Mary had time to protest, Hermione pulled her through the portrait and they started to crawl into the Common Room but Mary stopped her on the other side of the portrait. She held her finger to her mouth to tell Hermione to keep quiet and she silently pushed the portrait open slightly so they could watch Lily and Snape through the small gap. Hermione felt a little bad for eavesdropping but her curiosity had won her over.

“Well?” said Lily. Her back was to the portrait hole but Hermione could tell that her arms were still crossed.

“I shouldn’t have called you and Hermione that word…” said Snape.

“No. No you shouldn’t have,” said Lily.

“Come on, Lil—”

“No. I’m done,” said Lily.

“You don’t mean that—”

“Oh, but I do,” said Lily. “This was the last straw, Severus. I’ve forgiven you for all the things you’ve said since we met but I don’t think I can forgive this.”

“I’m sorry,” he said simply. His shoulders were slumped in a very non-Snape manner and he looked more vulnerable than Hermione had ever seen him.

“I’m not interested,” she replied.

His mouth fell open and he gaped at her, obviously troubled by her response.

“I’m sorry!” he repeated desperately.

“Save your breath,” she said icily back. “I only came out because Mary told me you were threatening to sleep here.”

“I was. I would have done,” said Snape earnestly. “I never meant to call you Mudblood, it just –”

“Slipped out?” There was not even an ounce of pity in Lily’s voice. “It’s too late. I’ve made excuses for you for years. None of my friends can understand why I even talk to you. You and your precious little Death Eater friends –” Snape flinched but didn’t protest the statement. “You see, you don’t even deny it! You don’t even deny that’s what you’re all aiming to be! You can’t wait to join You-Know-Who, can you?”

He opened his mouth, but closed it without speaking. He seemed to realize that Lily wasn’t going to forgive him like all the times in the past.

“I can’t pretend anymore. You’ve chosen your way, I’ve chosen mine,” said Lily.

“No – listen, I didn’t mean –” he started urgently.

“— to call me Mudblood?” interrupted Lily. “But you call everyone of my birth Mudblood, Severus. Why should I be any different?”

Snape looked at a loss for words, but with a look of distaste Lily turned and climbed back through the portrait hole. Mary and Hermione made a mad rush out of the portrait hole to one of the couches in the common room and Lily walked in. Her face looked like it was set in stone. Other people in the common room watched her as she walked up to the couch Hermione and Mary had sat at, curious about the argument that had just taken place.

“I know you two were listening,” she said and sighed. “I saw that the portrait hadn’t closed all the way.”

They started to apologize but Lily smiled.

“Are you guys going to come upstairs and talk about it or not?” She was still smiling as she walked past them and up the stairs to the girls’ dormitories.

Hermione and Mary exchanged a confused look but followed Lily up to their dormitory. When they opened the door, Lily was sitting on her bed and was… laughing?

“That felt so good,” she choked out. “I should have done that a long time ago! I should have done it after what Mulciber did to you, Mary!”

Hermione watched in shock at Lily sat there laughing. Mary seemed stunned as well.

“Lil… Are you alright?” said Mary with her eyebrow raised.

“It’s funny actually. I’m more upset about losing my shoes than I am about losing him!”

“I actually have your shoes, Lily,” said Hermione, remembering that they were in her bag. She pulled them out and handed them over to Lily.

Lily laughing harder as she grabbed her shoes causing her hair to fall in her face. She pushed it away and gave a huge grin towards Hermione and Mary.

“Lily?” asked Mary looking slightly dazed at how Lily was acting.

“You know,” said Lily, beaming. “I thought I’d be sad about this. About losing Severus as a friend but, I think I’m going to be just fine. More than fine. I feel free!”

And by the look on Lily’s face, Hermione actually believed her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I originally said I wouldn’t change things that happened in the first five books up until my story but I haaaaad to for this story. Well, I didn’t change anything, I just moved it (it being Snape’s lake memory and the aftermath) in the timeline. I know it happens at the end of their fifth year but I really wanted Hermione to witness the fall of Snape/Lily’s friendship so I had it happen at the beginning of their sixth year. That is all.
> 
> The last part of this chapter is paraphrased from Order of the Phoenix chapter 28: Snape’s Worst Memory and from Deathly Hallows chapter 33: The Prince’s Tale. The dialogue from those scenes is copied from the books but the rest is paraphrased. Again, I don't own Harry Potter, please don’t sue me!


	10. Punishments

* * *

Chapter 10 - Surprises

* * *

Well, Hermione had been wrong about Lily. She was definitely not “just fine”.

Lily did seem to care about losing Snape as a friend. She cared a lot. That night, her laughter had quickly turned to tears which then progressed into gross sobbing. Hermione and Mary had spent the rest of the night trying to comfort her until she tired herself out and fell asleep.

A few days after the event at the lake, Lily seemed to be doing better. It had taken a lot of constant convincing from Mary but Lily was finally starting to see that she was probably better off without Snape as a friend. Yet, she still had moments of guilt and regret.

The three girls had decided to distance themselves from the boys which caused things to be strange. Hermione hadn’t realized how attached she had grown to the Marauders until she couldn’t hang around them anymore. It was difficult but at the same time she knew she was doing the right thing.

Yet, classes just seemed off. There was definitely a different atmosphere about them now that Hermione didn’t sit near the Marauders. There was also the awkward tension in classes due to Lily and Snape’s fight. Lily decided to join Mary and Hermione at their cauldron in Potions and Snape had joined Avery and Mulciber which caused many eyebrows to be raised, including Professor Slughorn’s.

There was now a very apparent divide between the Gryffindor sixth year girls and boys.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

“This is bad,” said Sirius.

“Very bad,” said Peter.

“Yes. This is definitely bad,” said Remus nodding in agreement.

Remus was in his messy, scarlet and gold, poster and banner plastered dormitory. He, Sirius, and Peter were staring at James, who was lying face down on his bed. Remus had never seen him like this. He looked so utterly defeated.

It was pathetic.

By now, the entire school knew what had gone down between James and Snape and then what happened with Snape and Lily afterwards. It was everything anyone had talked about the day after it happened. People were still talking about it even though it was five days later.

Five days. That’s how long Hermione, Lily, and Mary had been ignoring them.

The school had also started to notice that the girls were completely snubbing the Marauders and it had really taken a toll on James’s spirit. He had attempted to talk to Lily during class numerous times over the past few days but she didn’t even look at him. No snarky comment, no eye roll, just nothing. The same thing happened when they tried to talk to Hermione.

Earlier that day James had made one more hopeful attempt to talk to Lily but with no luck. As soon as James had finished with classes, he silently walked back to the boys’ dormitory and face planted on his bed and hadn’t moved since.

“Prongs, mate, she’ll come around!” encouraged Sirius from his own bed. Remus was also sitting on Sirius’s bed with Peter beside him.

“She can’t ignore you forever,” said Peter.

A mix of a mumble and groan came from James and Remus sighed.

“You could try to talk to her again, James,” said Remus.

Really, he was giving himself the same advice. The fact that Hermione, Lily, and Mary were ignoring him, as well as James – even though he had never been very close with Mary – bothered him.

Hermione had been right. Maybe he should have stepped in. Okay, not maybe… he definitely should have stopped it before it even began. This entire situation would have been avoided and he would be able to talk to Hermione instead of her giving him the cold shoulder.

 _And Lily,_ he quickly thought.

Yes, and Lily. He hadn’t had Prefect duties with her since before the incident but he knew that when they had them together it was going to be incredibly awkward. It would, however, give him a great opportunity to apologize to her.

He just wished he could think of a good way to apologize to Hermione. He didn’t really spend time with Lily outside of prefect duties so Hermione was his only friend that he spent time with who took classwork seriously. Unlike the guys, she would rather read a book in her spare time than hex a Slytherin in the corridors.

“Ghee dowent won tawk ta me” mumbled James with his face stuffed in his pillow.

Sirius ducked behind Remus with his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing at how ridiculous James was being.

“Come again?” inquired Remus, massaging his temples. He had a headache and wasn’t in the best mood himself.

James lifted his face a few inches off of his pillow. “She doesn’t want to talk to me!” he wailed and stuffed his face back in the pillow.

“She’s probably in the common room now, Prongs. Just go down and talk to her,” said Peter giving James a look of pity. “It’s easy for her to ignore you in class but maybe she’ll talk to you in the privacy of the common room.”

Even though he didn’t necessarily think it would work, Remus had to hand it to Peter. It did seem like the most logical way of getting Lily to talk to James.

James must have thought so too because he, again, lifted his head off of his pillow but this time he turned and looked at the three of them sitting on Sirius’s bed.

“You know what?” he said. “I will!” With his face was set in determination he sat up.

His black hair was even messier than usual and he didn’t even bother to attempt to flatten it as he stood up. He fixed his square glasses, which had gone askew, and strolled out of the door without another word.

“Wait up, mate!” called Sirius who took off after him followed by Peter.

Remus moved to follow them and by the time he left the dormitory James was already almost at the bottom of the spiral staircase.

When he reached the bottom, Remus saw James looking around the nearly empty common room for dark red hair but with no luck. He looked visibly disappointed. Sirius, on the other hand, took it as a challenge.

“I know one way we can find her,” Sirius said with his mischievous grin that Remus knew all too well.

Sirius tugged on James’s arm and pulled him over to the nearest empty table. He pulled an old looking piece of parchment out of his back pocket and laid it down on the table.

“Do you always just keep that in your back pocket?” mused Remus and Sirius ignored him.

“I don’t know why we didn’t just use this in the first place,” said Sirius, grinning down at the Marauder’s Map. They had finally perfected it halfway through last year. “You’re the smart one, Moony. I’m a little disappointed in you for not thinking of this.”

“You wouldn’t be the first one to be disappointed in me,” muttered Remus. Sirius gave him a look and rolled his eyes.

“Save the dramatics for Prongs, Moony,” he said as he pulled out his wand. He looked over his shoulders to make sure no one was watching or listening before tapping the parchment and whispering, “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”

The map came to life and thin trails of ink appeared and started swimming across the parchment like spider webs. The ink slowly spiraled together – a feature Remus prided himself with – and began to form large, curly, emerald, letters, on the top of the parchment, spelling out:

Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs.

Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present:

THE MARAUDER'S MAP 

Beneath it, bits of dark ink fanned out over the parchment and began to reveal every corner of Hogwarts. Little labeled dots appeared all over it showing where every person in the castle and on the grounds were.

Remus still had trouble believing that the four of them had created such a beautiful and complex map.

“Well look at that, Jared Muller and Sarah Connelly seem to be getting quite comfortable in that broom cupboard,” snickered Sirius as he pointed to their dots on the fifth floor.

“I’ll never be able to look at him the same,” said James with a smirk.

“Ah, he’s a git anyway,” said Sirius. “She’s only with him because he’s captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team.”

“Guys, focus,” said Remus, rubbing his forehead again. “We’re supposed to be looking to see where Lily is.”

James’s face turned serious. “Right…”

“That’s an easy one,” said Peter as he pointed at the map. “She’s there, in her dormitory.”

Before Sirius had even finished saying “Mischief Managed” or anyone had a chance to say anything else, James took off in the direction of the girls’ stairwell. Remus, Sirius, and Peter rushed after him.

“Wait—” Remus began but it was too late.

James had already begun to climb the stairs, taking two at a time, when it happened.

There was an earsplitting noise, almost like a warning horn, and the stone steps melted together to create a shiny, smooth, slide. Remus was impressed with how far James managed to make it before his arms began to flail wildly. He finally lost his balance, fell backwards, and shot down the slide, landing at Remus, Sirius, and Peter’s feet.

A groan came from James and he looked up at the three other boys in bewilderment. Sirius lost himself and doubled over in a fit of laughter.

“What the…” spluttered James as Remus grabbed his hand and helped him to his feet. James began rubbing his backside and he looked very displeased.

“I tried to warn you…” said Remus, shaking his head.

James continued to look bewildered. “Why did it do that?” he demanded.

“Boys can’t go in the girls’ dormitories, mate. Something to do with the Founders not trusting boys or something,” said Sirius with a gleam of laughter in his eyes.

Remus turned towards Sirius in surprise. He had to admit, he was impressed that Sirius had known that bit of information since he knew for a fact that he was the only one of them to have read _Hogwarts: A History._

“That’s right… that’s why girls can go up to our dormitories but we can’t go to theirs,” said Remus. “The Founders believed girls to be more trustworthy. But how did _you_ know that?”

Sirius grinned. “I may or may not have tried to sneak into the girls’ dormitory to hide a Cornish Pixie in Macdonald’s trunk in fourth year. I found out I couldn’t do it the hard way.” Sirius paused for a moment before continuing. “So I put it in her school bag instead.”

Remus groaned. That explained a lot. Mary had not been happy when that Cornish Pixie was released. It had tried to lift her off the ground by her ears but, luckily for Mary, Lily had been able to immobilize it before she got more than a foot off the ground. Professor Kettleburn had been grateful when Lily later returned it to him.

“That was YOU?” yelled a voice from above.

There was a blur of dirty blonde hair and black robes as Mary slid down the slide and landed in front of them. She gracefully stood up and brushed herself off before sending an angry look to Sirius.

Sirius, who was used to Mary sending him dirty looks, beamed at her. “Ah! Well isn’t it my favorite hotheaded Gryffindor!”

“I only save my hotheadedness for a select few, Black,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “I should have known that you were the one who put the pixie in bag. How did you even get one?”

“First of all, it was a _Cornish_ Pixie, and I nicked it from Care of Magical Creature, of course,” shrugged Sirius, still grinning.

Mary stared at him. “You’re unbelievable.” She turned to look at Remus, James, and Peter, her face softened considerably, and she smiled. “Hello, boys. Did you need something?”

Remus smirked while trying not to laugh. Mary was always a very pleasant person to be around but for as long as he could remember she and Sirius had always bickered. Something about him always set her off but she was perfectly friendly to everyone else.

“James wanted to speak to Lily,” said Peter.

Mary frowned slightly. “Sorry to disappoint. Lily isn’t taking any visitors at the moment,” she paused. “Actually, she just isn’t taking visits from you guys.”

“And Hermione?” asked Remus.

Mary sent him a curious look that made him feel slightly uncomfortable but he didn’t know why. “Neither is Hermione,” she said slowly and Remus felt his hopes diminish.

“Why are _you_ talking to us then?” asked James sounding genuinely curious.

“Because,” said Mary crossing her arms, “I wanted to see which boy had tried to get into the girls’ dormitories. And, to be honest, I’m not angry at you. I think Snape got what was coming to him after what he called Lily and Hermione. But don’t tell them I said that,” she added as an afterthought.

“How long do they plan on being angry?” asked James.

“Oh they aren’t angry anymore,” said Mary with a cheery smile. “They’re just punishing you.”

James gawked at her. “Well that’s immature of them!” he exclaimed.

“More immature than attacking Snape ‘just because’?” countered Mary, raising her eyebrow.

James pursed his lips. “Touché.”

“I thought you said he got what was coming to him!” argued Sirius.

“I said he had it coming because of what he called Lily and Hermione,” said Mary smoothly. “But before that he was just minding his own business like you guys should have been.” Sirius tried to protest but Mary held up her hand, cutting him off. “But after what he said I surely don’t sympathize with him.”

“When do you think Hermione and Lily will stop ignoring us?” asked Remus hoping it would be soon.

“They’re just doing it until they think you’ve learnt your lesson. I doubt it will go on much longer but you never know. They were both pretty upset with what happened,” said Mary with a soft, almost sympathetic, smile to Remus.

“Right…” said James. Remus noticed that he was rubbing his backside again, probably more out of nervousness than from his tumble down the slide.

Mary looked between the four of them. “Well, this has been a fun chat but I think I’ll go back to my friends now. See ya.”

She turned and trotted back up the spiral staircase, which had returned to its usual form, and was out of sight.

James turned on Sirius. “Why didn’t you tell me about the stairs after it happened to you?” he demanded.

“Well, I could have warned you and prevented it from happening to you… But this was funnier,” grinned Sirius.

Remus felt glum as the boys made their way back to the table in the common room and sat down. He wasn’t reassured by what Mary had said. The girls were ignoring them purposely to punish them and it worked. He definitely felt punished.

Even though Mary said Hermione and Lily weren’t angry anymore he didn’t entirely believe her. Maybe Mary had meant that they weren’t as angry as they had been… There was no way they had gotten over it so quickly. They had been so hurt by what happened by the lake. It would definitely take them a while to get over it. Even if they did forgive them it wouldn’t go back to how it had been before the scene at the lake. The look on Lily’s face when she had started back to the castle was devastating.

He also couldn’t get the look Hermione had given him out of his head. She had looked so betrayed and it was entirely his fault. When Snape had called her a mudblood she hadn’t even been phased. Instead, she said she had been used to being called it which had given him and the rest of them quite a shock. Was that another reason she had transferred to Hogwarts?

What had really upset her had been him. She had been more upset by being let down by him than being called that awful _awful_ word. And that was what he was having trouble dealing with.

His headache seemed to be getting worse. He didn’t even realize he had been staring angrily at the table in front of him until Sirius spoke up.

“You’re being awfully mopey today, Moony,” said Sirius, looking across the table at Remus.

Remus looked up, feeling rather bitter. The other three boys were looking at him oddly.

Oh how he hated being pitied.

“Full moon is in two days…” muttered Remus, looking back down at the table and trying to force a neutral expression on to his face. “And I have this blasted headache…”

It was only a half truth. Not the headache part; that was true. Yes, the full moon was in fact in two days, but that wasn’t why he was feeling this way. Well, it might be, who knows. The approaching full moon usually had a negative effect on his temperament. So that, on top of being ignored by two of his friends, just worsened his mood.

Only five days had passed and he already missed Lily and Hermione. He couldn’t stop thinking about the relationships he had with the two of them.

Lily was someone he had gone to for advice and comfort about things he thought the boys might laugh at. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his three best friends – he trusted them with his life – it was that Lily would never make a joke about something if she thought it was serious. It was also nice to have a female perspective on things. Even though she didn’t know about his lycanthropy, she had always been so kind to him over the years due to his and his mother’s “illnesses” or him being sick that caused him to miss class. Lily was a rock that Remus knew he could rely on.

And even though he had only known Hermione for a little over month there was something in her that Remus was drawn to. That all of them were drawn to. He had noticed it the first night back at Hogwarts when she had locked herself out of the common room. He had admired her for telling off James the first day of classes and Remus even admired that she had stuck up for Severus. She was the type of person that was smart and knew it and wanted to make sure everyone else knew it as well. They had even started studying together. He had thought they were becoming good friends, especially after her birthday, but now he feared that he had messed everything up.

“Blimey, I nearly forgot that was coming up,” said James, interrupting Remus’s thoughts.

“Brilliant,” grinned Sirius from across the table. “We could use the fun.”

“Yes, you would find it fun…” Remus muttered darkly.

Sirius looked taken about and gave an apologetic look.

“Maybe you should go to the Hospital Wing?” suggested Peter with a nervous smile, clearly not wanting to set him off. “Madam Pomfrey could give you a Pepperup potion or something for the headache.”

“Yeah… alright…” said Remus, standing up. “Yeah, I think I should. I’ll see you guys later…”

He didn’t actually want to go to the Hospital Wing but it was a good excuse to be by himself.

He bid his friends goodbye and left the common room for the Hospital Wing with the pain in his head getting worse with every step he took.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

Hermione was sitting cross-legged on her bed when Mary walked back through the wooden door and into their cozy dormitory.

“Well?” asked Lily, who was lounging on her own bed, facing Hermione.

Mary crossed the room and sat on the edge of Hermione’s bed and looked between the two girls.

“James set the stairs off trying to get up here to talk to you, Lils,” said Mary. “He had actually gotten pretty far up before it turned into the slide. It was quite impressive, really.”

Lily gave her a blank stare. “James?” she tried her best to only sound vaguely interested.

“James Potter… You know, the boy in our year that has been hung up on you since he met you on the Hogwarts Express first year? The one you’ve been ignoring for nearly a week now?” said Mary, raising her eyebrow.

“Oh… that James…”

Hermione swore that Lily was trying not to blush.

“We don’t even know any other Jameses!” exclaimed Mary.

Lily grinned. “Not true. I went to school with a boy named James before I came to Hogwarts.”

Mary rolled her eyes.

“That’s beside the point. Anyway, Remus, Peter, and Sirius were with him,” said Mary. Then her expression turned angry. “Did you know it was Sirius that put that Cornish Pixie in my bag in fourth year? That prat!”

Lily snickered. “I had a feeling it was him.”

Mary glared at no one in particular and crossed her arms. “Well, the guys seem pretty bummed about being ignored. Especially James and Remus.”

Lily frowned and shifted slightly on her bed. “I don’t want Remus to be upset… I’m mostly just mad at James.”

Hermione felt a pang in her chest. She didn’t want Remus to be upset either but she was positive that Remus would have been able to control James and Sirius if he had really wanted to. Yet, he didn’t even try. He was just as much at fault as they were, even if she wished he hadn’t been.

“I miss them…” Hermione said before she realized she was speaking out loud.

Staying angry at the boys was much more difficult than Hermione thought it would be. It also didn’t help that they just wouldn’t leave her and Lily alone. She found it incredibly difficult to snub the Marauders when they kept trying to talk to them. Whenever she had been angry at Harry or Ron they knew that they deserved to be ignored and left her alone, but the Marauders, particularly James and Sirius, believed they had been in the right. Plus, she really did miss the company of the boys. Not including Peter of course.

As much as she loved spending time with Lily and Mary, it just wasn’t the same without Remus, James, and Sirius.

“You could always go talk to them,” said Mary with an encouraging smile. She seemed to have gotten over finding out about the pixie pretty quickly. “They miss you as well. And Remus seems to miss you especially…”

Hermione felt herself smile. She had gotten particularly close to Remus over the past few weeks. It just worried her that this whole fiasco might ruin their friendship.

“I want to, I really do, but what they did was awful and they need to know that they can’t go around attacking people for fun. Or, in Remus’s case, just stand by and let it happen,” said Hermione. She crossed her arms but more so to hug herself rather than in annoyance. Perhaps a mix of both.

“I agree with Hermione,” said Lily, nodding. She looked slightly solemn. “That also goes for Peter, for egging him on. James was being an arrogant arse and needed some form of consequence. He can’t act that way for the rest of his life.”

Mary put her hands up in front of her defensively. “You guys can do whatever you’d like, I’ll support your actions but how long do you plan on doing this?”

“At least until the end of the week,” said Hermione and Lily nodded in agreement. “I won’t give them the satisfaction of having them think that their moping has gotten to us.”

There was a pause and the three girls just looked at each other.

Then Lily flung herself backwards so she laid flat on her mattress. She sighed and stared up at the ceiling. “I should talk to Severus,” she said delicately.

A loud, annoyed, groan came from Mary, who put her face in her hands. “Oh not this again…” she muttered.

For days now, Lily had been feeling slightly guilty about how things ended between her and Snape. One moment she’d feel confident that she had done the right thing and then she’d get upset and sulk around in regret. Mary was clearly getting irritated by it.

Lily sat up and looked at Mary, feigning innocence. “What?”

“You don’t need him, Lily!” said Mary, trying not to sound annoyed even though she was clearly exasperated. “We’ve had this conversation already. Multiple times!”

“I know… but what if I made the wrong decision?” said Lily looking at Hermione and Mary desperately.

“I don’t think you did,” said Hermione kindly.

“But what about him? He doesn’t have many friends…” said Lily with a sad frown.

“Don’t worry about him,” said Mary. “It’s not your fault that he doesn’t have many friends. That friendship was toxic and you did the right thing by ending it.”

“I agree with Mary,” said Hermione with a nod and Mary smiled at her.

“But now he’s joined Mulciber and Avery in Potions and I can’t help but worry about him...” said Lily quietly. “He didn’t even deny wanting to join the Death Eaters…”

Lily had struck a cord and had brought up the conversation that they all had been avoiding. During all of the conversations the three of them had had about Snape over the past five days, they had always just focused on how bad of a friend he was. No one wanted to bring up Snape’s lack of a defense when Lily had accused him and his friends of aiming to be Death Eaters.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the dormitory as Hermione looked everywhere but at Mary and Lily. Suddenly the dust buddies dancing around the floor under one of vacant beds in the dormitory became very interesting to Hermione.

Another minute of awkward silence passed before Mary bravely spoke up. “I honestly believe that him hanging around those types of people is even more reason for you not to be friends with him anymore…They’re evil…”

The look on Lily’s face gave Hermione the impression that she was struggling not to cry again. “I don’t want Severus to turn out like them. What if he follows in their footsteps? Maybe if I stay friends with him he’ll decided not to become a follower of You-Know-Who...”

Hermione involuntarily flinched. Even though Lily hadn't said his name, it was the first time someone had mentioned Voldemort since she arrived there and it was jarring. Part of Hermione had trouble processing that even twenty years in the past, Voldemort was still such an immediate threat, just as he was in her time. It was why James had been so suspicious of her when she first arrived. The first wizarding war was already happening and the fear of the name had already begun.

“You believe you can change him?” asked Mary with a hint of pity in her voice.

Lily shook her head. “I’m not sure. Do you honestly believe it could be possible to change him if I really tried?”

“I don’t think so, Lily,” said Hermione sadly.

She knew full well that Snape was going to become a Death Eater and join Voldemort’s ranks regardless if Lily tried to stop him. Yes, he would eventually become a spy for the Order but he did end up becoming a Death Eater first. Dumbledore had told her that she wouldn’t be able to change the past so there was no choice but to let this unfold the way it was supposed to.

Lily turned her green eyes towards Hermione and the pain in them was heartbreakingly evident.

“I think that if he has already made his decision then no matter how hard you try you wouldn’t be able to change it. It seems like it’s a path he’s already chosen…” continued Hermione.

Mary hopped off of the end of Hermione’s bed and walked over to Lily’s and sat down next to her. She put her arm around her as Lily rested her head on Mary’s shoulder.

“You can’t blame yourself for this, Lils. This is all on him and there’s nothing you could have done differently to change that,” comforted Mary. Lily sniffed and nodded her head against Mary’s shoulder. “He is not your responsibility. There are so many people that care about you who are here for you. You don’t need him.”

Lily took her head off of Mary’s shoulder gave a weary smile. “At least I have you guys.”

Mary grinned. “That you do.”

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

During classes the next day, Hermione understood what had Mary meant. She hadn’t noticed from the previous few days but the Marauders really must have missed them. Especially James and Remus.

James looked like kicked puppy. Hermione watched him looking longingly across the room at Lily. When he caught Hermione’s eye, his face lit up and he sent her a hopeful grin. It took everything in her to look away. The next time she turned to look at him, he had his head resting on the palm of his hand and was staring wistfully towards the front of the class.

Remus was another story. He looked absolutely miserable and Hermione couldn’t possibly understand why. It wasn’t as if he was that great of friends with either Lily or herself. Sure, she was getting closer to him but he only knew her for a month. James was sad because he liked Lily; but what was causing Remus to look so sad?

The following day Hermione finally got an answer to her question.

It was unusually quiet when she entered Defense Against the Dark Arts that morning. Sitting in the back corner of the classroom were the Marauders but they weren’t chatty or goofing around like they usually did on Fridays. There was an empty seat at their table and Hermione instantly felt awful.

She had forgotten that today would be the full moon.

Her plan had been to ignore the Marauders entirely for a week before speaking to them again. It had now been exactly a week and she wouldn’t even be able to make up with Remus because he was gone. How could she have been so careless to forget about the full moon?

Now she understood why he had looked so miserable the previous day and she had probably made it worse by ignoring him. She just hoped she hadn’t done enough damage to make his transformation more difficult.

Instead of going to her usual seat in the middle of the classroom with Mary and Lily, Hermione walked over to the table where the Marauders were sitting.

Sirius was the first to see her approaching and he looked visibly shocked. He gave James a nudge and he too glanced up with a mix of happiness and nervousness. Peter was also staring.

“Hello,” said James cautiously as Hermione came to a stop beside him.

“Hello,” said Hermione and she smiled weakly.

There was an awkward pause as the boys exchanged curious glances. Hermione cleared her throat before sitting in the empty chair on the other side of James, who raised his eyebrow in surprise.

“I’m here to take Remus’s notes,” she said confidently.

She held out her hand and waited for one of them to hand over Remus’s notebook.

“I thought you weren’t speaking to us,” said Sirius sarcastically.

“Just because you’re being punished doesn’t mean I want Remus to fall behind,” said Hermione. “Someone still has to take his notes.”

“So you _are_ punishing us,” said James with a hint of humor.

“Of course I’m punishing you lot. It’s not like you don’t deserve it. But I have decided to begin speaking with you again,” she said and Sirius grinned. She extended her arm a little more to emphasize that she still wanted the notebook.

With a grin, James went into his bag and pulled out Remus’s notebook. “It was my turn,” he said as he handed it to her with a smirk.

Hermione could feel the laughter building up inside of her at James’s attempt to reference the previous time Remus was out from class. She tried to keep from smirking and to contain her laughter but, instead, she ended up making a rather unusual snorting noise. Her eyes widened and her hand immediately went up to her face which caused James and Sirius to burst into fits of laughter.

“What was _that_?” gasped Sirius through his laughter.

She could feel her face growing red as tried to hide behind her hair. It was humiliating yet, there was something hilarious about the whole situation.

“Look at her trying not to smile!” laughed Sirius.

“Don’t blow it, mate. She’s talking to us again, that’s all that matters,” grinned James.

For a moment everything felt almost back to normal; well, as normal as things felt in 1976. But Hermione couldn’t entirely forgive them for their behavior. Not quite yet.

“I’m not going to apologize for ignoring you,” said Hermione. She pushed her bushy hair out of her face and gave them an annoyed smile.

“I honestly didn’t expect you to,” said James as he pulled his notebook out of his bag with a smirk. “So does this mean Evans will be talking to us again?”

He had a hopeful look on his face.

“That’s up to her,” said Hermione. “Don’t think that everything will go immediately back to how it was. We’re still upset with you guys.”

James’s fall fell slightly and he nodded his head. “Right…”

There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment and Hermione took out her own supplies and looked over at the boys. “Is Remus’s mother sick again?” she asked innocently, trying not to sound suspicious.

There was the slightest of hesitations before James spoke. “No, he’s actually sick today.”

“Sick enough where Madam Pomfrey doesn’t want anyone visiting him,” added Sirius quickly.

“Oh that’s terrible… He wasn’t looking too well yesterday,” said Hermione with a small nod.

Across the room, Hermione saw Mary and Lily sitting together. Lily wasn’t looking towards the Marauders but Mary caught Hermione’s eye and grinned, giving her a thumbs up.

At that moment, the short Professor Warbeck walked into the classroom and Mary quickly looked away, hiding her grin.

Class went by quickly and throughout the rest of the day Hermione found herself falling back into rhythm with the Marauders. Yet, it felt odd without Remus.

Without him, the balance between the Marauders seemed off. In a way, Hermione wished he really were sick. That way, she could at least visit him in the Hospital Wing so she could talk to someone that didn’t purposely try to make her lose her appetite.

During dinner, James and Sirius were far fouler than if Remus were around to tell them to stop. There was nothing to do but just sit and endure it.

Sirius had just finished a rather rude joke that started off something like “A banshee, an ogre, and a witch walk into a pub…”

It had had such a grotesque ending that Peter quite literally started to choke on his lamb chops, turning a pinkish purplish color.

“ _Anapneo!_ ” said Hermione, pointing her wand at Peter and his airway cleared at once.

Peter, who was still pink in the face, was looked at her gratefully as Hermione glared at the grinning Sirius.

“That was foul, Sirius!” said Hermione, appalled. “Now I know what Mary meant when she said she refuses to eat with you because she’d lose her appetite.”

Sirius grinned at her and winked. “You know you missed this, Hermione.”

Hermione pursed her lips playfully. “I feel as though we may have different definitions of ‘missed’, Sirius.”

Sirius’s grin widened.

“That wasn’t even one of his better jokes,” grinned James as he helped himself to a slice of pie.

“There’s more?” sighed Hermione wearily.

“Do you want to hear the one about the one legged woman who had a rather dirty fetish for Quidditch?” asked Sirius with a smirk.

“No!” said Hermione and Peter together. Well Peter, who was still recovering from choking, more so wheezed his response.

“Your loss,” shrugged Sirius who turned towards James.

James and Sirius began chatting as they ate their dessert and Hermione pushed her food away. She had lost her appetite after watching Peter choke.

Peter also looked rather putout and Hermione heard him mutter under his breath something along the lines of “I miss Remus…”

And for the first time in her life, Hermione agreed with Peter Pettigrew.


	11. Back to Normal

* * *

Chapter 11 - Back to Normal

* * *

Hermione spent almost the entirety of that Saturday and Sunday doing homework. Now that classes had been in session for over a month, the professors were piling on even more assignments than they previously had. Free periods were not nearly as fun as everyone had expected them to be, as they were spent doing all of the assignments they had. It would be something that she and all of the other students in her year would have to get used to now that they were at N.E.W.T level.

By early afternoon on Monday, Remus had still not returned. The other Marauders didn’t seem too concerned so Hermione constantly willed herself to stop worrying about him. If they didn’t seem worried, it meant Remus’s transformation must not have been worse than usual. It’s not like she had any control over his transformations and how they affected him anyway. 

To pass the time, she had agreed to work with and help James, Sirius, and, to her displeasure, Peter with their homework during their free period. Although Sirius and James weren’t the most dedicated of students, Hermione was quick to pick up on how intelligent they were. It’s not that they couldn’t do their own work, they just couldn’t be bothered to do it. Peter, on the other hand, struggled more than the rest. 

“No, no, no, Peter. You’re not waving your wand correctly,” said Hermione, trying not to sound annoyed as Peter helplessly pointed his wand at the empty goblet in front of him.

The four of them were sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace in the Gryffindor Common room. Hermione and Peter were both sitting cross legged while Sirius was leaning against the side of the couch and James was sprawled on the carpet, lounging on his side. Hermione and Peter were closest to the fireplace and the warmth from the fire felt nice on Hermione’s skin due to the chilling air that was sweeping through the castle as October progressed.

“I’m doing it just as how Flitwick showed us in class,” said Peter through gritted teeth. “It’s the sideways S motion.”

He gave Hermione an odd look and moved his wand through the air again.

“You’re doing the S upside down,” said Hermione shaking her head. She pointed her own wand at the goblet. “It’s like this. _Aguamenti!_ ”

A small stream of water burst from her wand and filled the goblet in front of them.

“Ayyyyy!” grinned James. “Nice aim, Dawson. You didn’t even spill a drop!”

Hermione snorted. “Thank you, James.”

A small huff came from Peter as he stared down at the goblet in anger. “I’ve never had this much trouble with a charm before… We’ve been at this one for a few weeks now…”

“Aw don’t worry, Wormtail. You’ll get it. You always end up getting it,” said Sirius as he flipped his quill into the air and caught it, ignoring his own pile of homework sitting beside him.

“Let me try!” said James. He heaved himself up into a sitting position and scooted closer to where Hermione was sitting.

“We already know you can do it, Prongs,” said Sirius, rolling his eyes as he threw the quill into the air again. “You spent the entire last class secretly shooting water across the room at Marcus Donner when Flitwick wasn’t looking.”

James shrugged and grinned. “Just a little healthy rivalry between Quidditch Captains. ”

“Fine, James,” said Hermione quickly, before the boys started talking about Quidditch. If they started, they’d never stop. “If you really want to practice then so be it. I’ll empty the goblet.”

She leaned forward to grab the goblet but, before she could, James snatched it up and downed the contents of the goblet into his mouth.

“James!” gasped Hermione.

“Oh calm down, Hermione. I was thirsty,” said James, wiping his mouth and grinning while Sirius and Peter laughed. “Oh, come on. If anyone can produce safe drinking water it’s you, Hermione,” added James when he noticed Hermione’s pursed lips.

The compliment had a good impact on her mood and Hermione’s expression immediately softened. Of course her water would be safe to drink. She had done the spell perfectly, after all.

“Fine,” said Hermione with a small smile. “Just do the spell, James.”

James positioned the goblet in front of himself and pointed his wand at it. He cleared his throat for effect and said “ _Aguamenti!_ ”

Water shot out of his wand, not nearly as neatly as Hermione’s had, and filled the goblet, spilling some over the sides.

A snort came from Sirius and James turned and rose his eyebrow at him. “Have something to say, Padfoot?”

“You’d just think a Quidditch chaser would have better aim,” grinned Sirius.

The grin quickly fell as James threw the nearest couch cushion at him and it hit him in the face. “Really?” grinned James as Sirius toppled sideways. “My aim seems to be just fine.”

Hermione rolled her eyes at the pair of them. While Sirius was groaning, she waved her wand and the water in the goblet disappeared. She picked it up and moved it back in front of Peter.

“Alright, Peter. Try again,” she said.

It took a few more attempted but Peter finally managed to get a small stream of water to go into the goblet and slowly filled it to the brim.

“I did it!” said Peter. He beamed around at his friends as Sirius and James cheered and Hermione politely smiled.

Over the past few weeks Hermione had gotten better at pretending to like Peter. When she returns back to her time she should become an actress with all the acting experience she’d have.

The sound of the portrait opening and closing caused the four of them to stop their miniature celebration and turn towards the portrait hole.

Standing there, staring at them, was a sickly looking Remus. Dark bags were under his eyes and he seemed much paler than usual. He had a cut above his right eyebrow and there was a cloth bandage badly hidden beneath his robes on his left shoulder. A look of confusion and shock was on his face as he looked between the other Marauders before his gaze fell on Hermione.

There was one second of absolute silence as the Marauders had clearly not expected Remus to be back. They stared at him with equal looks of shock before Peter broke the silence.

“Remus!” said Peter. He jumped in surprise and ended up kicking the full goblet of water, knocking it into Hermione and dousing her with water.

She let out a small yelp and jumped to her feet, trying to wipe the water from her robes. “Really, Peter?” she moaned as water dripped off of her and onto the carpet.

“What are you doing back, Remus?” asked James, ignoring soaked Hermione while Peter flooded her with apologies. James had a concerned look on his face as he got to his feet and crossed the common room to Remus. “I thought you were supposed to stay another night.”

“Hang on,” said Hermione, looking between Sirius and James while continuing to dry herself. “How did you guys know when Remus would supposedly be coming back? You said he wasn’t allowed any visitors!”

There had been times when the other three Marauders had disappeared over the past few days and Hermione was sure that they were visiting Remus in the Hospital Wing. But it would seem suspicious if she didn’t sound suspicious… 

Sirius rolled his eyes and grinned. “Since when are we ones to follow the rules?”

Hermione pursed her lips again.

James walked Remus to the couch, where Sirius was now sitting, and they sat down. Hermione quickly cleared up the water and walked over to the lounge chair beside the couch and sat down facing Remus.

“So why are you back today?” asked James.

“Madam Pomfrey didn’t want to let me leave but I told her I can’t afford to miss any more classes,” said Remus without looking at James

“She just let you go? Just like that?” asked Sirius.

“She couldn’t make me stay. There’s nothing actually wrong with me anymore,” said Remus. He was still staring at Hermione.

The guilt she felt from ignoring him during his transformation hit Hermione hard as she looked at Remus’s defeated expression.

“Remus, how are you?” asked Hermione. She knew it was a stupid question, he looked miserable, but she couldn’t think of another way to start talking to him. It had been nearly a week and a half since they had spoken.

He continued to stare at her for a second before speaking. Hermione guessed that he was trying to figure out what to say without giving anything away.

“I feel a little weak… but there’s still another class today after this free period and I need to go to it,” he said softly.

“I have your notes!” said Hermione, suddenly remembering the stack of notebooks on her bedside table in her dormitory. “I’ll be right back.”

She stood up and quickly rushed to the stairs that lead to the girls’ dormitory. Neither Mary nor Lily was there so Hermione quickly crossed the room to her bed without distraction. Remus’s notes were stacked neatly on her bedside table and she grabbed them.

She was grateful for the moment alone. Remus’s return hadn’t been expected and it startled her. She hadn’t even had time to plan out what she would say to him. There was so much she wanted to say but he looked so awful and she couldn’t help but put part of that blame on herself. What if he blamed her as well?

 Shaking her head slightly, she took a deep breath and made her way back to the common room.

“If you don’t feel up for taking notes during our next class I’d be happy to continue taking them,” she said as she handed Remus the notebooks.

“No, it’s alright, Hermione,” said Remus softly. “I think I can handle it, but thank you.”

The boys had a light conversation for the rest of the free period as Hermione silently read from her Arithmancy textbook. Every now and then she’d catch Remus looking at her curiously but he’d look away before she could send him a smile.

Their next class went by slowly. People were used to Remus missing classes so nobody seemed to question Remus’s absence from the previous classes that day nor his absences from classes on Friday. Yet, Hermione found herself constantly turning to watch him as she sat with Mary and Lily.

Her chest ached. Remus had seemed off when he came back to the common room and she knew it had to be because of her. She had finally begun to feel like she might have belonged there and that had so much to do with her friendship with Remus and she didn’t know what she would do if he decided to write her off. That was surely to make the rest of the Marauders ignore her as well and that would make her time there unbearable.

When class ended, Mary, Lily, and Hermione were one of the first people out of the classroom. Lily claimed to be starving so they started to make their way to the Great Hall to get there early so they’d be there right as dinner started.

They had barely made it into the Grand Staircase when they heard someone call for them.

“Hermione!” said the voice. Hermione turned and saw Remus standing awkwardly in front of James, Peter, and Sirius. “Could I, um, could I have a word, please?”

“Of course, Remus,” said Hermione. She quickly scanned his expression. He didn’t seem angry at her… that was a good sign. She turned towards Mary and Lily. “You guys go on to dinner, I’ll meet you there.”

“You sure?” asked Mary.

“Yeah, I don’t want to keep you and Lily from eating, especially since Lily is starving. I’ll be down soon,” said Hermione.

Lily gave Hermione a grateful smile and she and Mary continued walking in the direction of the Great Hall. Remus was saying something to the other boys and whatever it was it caused them to walk away as well as Remus approached Hermione.

“Here, follow me, we shouldn’t talk on the stairs,” said Remus.

He took Hermione by the sleeve of her robes and brought her through a door and into a deserted corridor before he turned to face her.

“Hermione, I am so sorry about the lake. I know I should have done something. I wasn’t thinking properly and there’s no excuse for my actions nor the actions of James, Sirius, and Peter. We were all acting like gits and you had every right to be angry,” said Remus. He took a deep breath before continuing, “I just don’t want our friendship to be over. I know we’ve only known each other for less than two months but you’ve become a really good friend to everyone and a great friend to me.”

A warmth spread through Hermione’s chest and, before she knew what she was doing, she took a step forward and threw her arms around Remus, carefully trying to avoid his injured shoulder.

“Oh Remus, I am so sorry I couldn’t talk to you the past few days!” said Hermione, trying to hold back tears.

“I--” started Remus, “What?”

It took him a second realize Hermione was hugging him before he returned her embrace. Hermione was greeted with the aroma of chocolate as he hugged her back and she smiled to herself as she thought about all the times Remus would try to force Harry to eat chocolate while he was their professor in their third year.

The hug only lasted a moment before Hermione pulled away and looked up at Remus’s face which was broken into his crooked smile.

“I mean, I’m not sorry for ignoring you in the first place… You really should have at least tried to stop James, you are a prefect after all! But, I didn’t expect you to fall ill! I only meant to ignore all of you for a week so you could reflect on your wrongdoings and I’ve just felt so awful that you became sick and we couldn’t make up! I do want us to continue being friends.”

Remus had a slightly amused look on his face. “Hermione, you have nothing to be sorry about. I honestly don’t expect you to be sorry about your reaction to the fight at the lake.”

“Good, because I’m not,” mumbled Hermione under her breath, causing Remus to grin more.

“I have a lot of respect for you, Lily, and Mary standing up for what is right, and you have every right to be angry. It also isn’t your fault that I’ve been gone. It was just awful timing,” said Remus. “However, I am grateful that you still took my notes. No one takes better notes than you.”

At that, Hermione grinned.

“Of course I took your notes. As you said, you can’t afford to fall behind,” said Hermione and Remus’s grin widened.

Remus looked down at his watch. “Dinner starts soon, can we talk again later, in private to catch up?”

“I’d like that,” said Hermione with a smile.

A feeling of relief washed over her as Remus smiled down at her. She had been so worried that they would stop being friends but if anything they seemed even closer.

“Great,” said Remus. “Come on, let’s go to dinner.”

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

 Hermione didn’t end up joining Lily and Mary at dinner like she had planned to but she was sure they’d understand. After all, she wanted to spend time with all of the Marauders for the first time in over a week and it’s not like she wouldn’t see the girls later in their dormitory.

 Remus didn’t look nearly as pale at dinner, the food must have had a good effect on him. He kept James and Sirius in line during dinner and Peter did not even choke once. Things were basically back to normal.

 “So,” said James as he took a mouthful of soup. “Now that we’re all back together, we have something we wanted to ask you, Hermione.”

 Hermione raised her eyebrow. “Is that so?”

 “Yup,” said Sirius from beside James as he shoveled food into his mouth.

 “I thought we had finished with all of the questions…” said Hermione, watching Sirius in disgust.

 “There was something we’ve been wondering since what went down at the lake,” said James.

 “I don’t think this is the right place for that conversation, James…” said Remus softly from beside Hermione, causing her to raise her eyebrow.

 James paid no attention to Remus. Hermione stared at James trying to think what he could possibly be thinking of asking her. When she didn’t respond, James continued.

 “So, at the lake during the… uh, what should I call it… the _misunderstanding_ … something was said that we found to be concerning,” said James, dramatically waving his fork around as he spoke.

 That was when Hermione knew what James was going to say.

 “Snape called you and Evans that word – you know which word I’m talking about. It didn’t seem to bother you at all…” said James.

 “And? That’s not a question.” Said Hermione, hoping her sarcasm and light tone would make them less interested.

 “You said you were used to it,” said Peter as he helped himself to pudding.

 Hermione exhaled. “Yes, I am used to it. It doesn’t really matter. It’s just a word.”

 “It’s more than a word, Hermione,” said Sirius, who wore a serious expression for the first time that night. “It’s the meaning behind it. It’s the bigotry mindset that gives it its power.”

 Hermione thought back to all the stories she had heard about Sirius wanting to escape from the hatred of his ancestors. How he had gone out of his way to distance himself from that way of life. Hermione felt a wave of respect for him.

 “Yes, but if I react negatively to it then I give that word even more power to affect me,” explained Hermione.

 There was a short moment of silence as the boys considered this.

 “It’s still not right to say it and Snape is going to pay for calling you and Evans one,” said Sirius darkly. His grey eyes seemed blacker than usual and Hermione had never seen him look so livid. It was almost scary.

 “Don’t do anything foolish, Sirius,” warned Hermione.

 His face softened, causing Hermione to relax, and he rolled his eyes, “Yeah, yeah… whatever you say, Dawson.”

 “But who was it,” said James, after a moment.

 “Excuse me?” ask Hermione. “Who was it who did what?”

 “Who was it that made you used to that word,” said James, his expression was unreadable. “You must have been called it many times for it not to affect you anymore.”

 Hermione bit her lip, she didn’t like where this conversation was headed.

 “A boy in my year used to call me one. Before I came here, he referred to me as one all the time ever since my second year,” said Hermione slowly.

 She noticed Remus’s knuckles grow whiter has his grip tightened on his fork as he stared intently at his plate.

 “What’s his name,” asked Sirius angrily. “I’ll send him a howler he’ll never forget!”

 “And I’ll send him a letter that will explode in his face regardless of whether or not he decides to open it!” said James, mirroring the same look of anger as Sirius.

“That’s really not necessary,” said Hermione quickly. “You’ll get yourselves in trouble.”

 “Trouble is my middle name,” said Sirius.

 “I thought your middle name was Orion,” said Peter.

 “Very funny, Wormtail…”

 “Honestly, he isn’t worth your time,” quickly said Hermione.

Her mind was racing, trying to come up with a way to change the subject away from her timeline. Then she thought of the perfect conversation topic. It would take some sacrifice on her part but she’d rather endure it than wiggle herself out of a conversation about Draco Malfoy, who hadn’t even been born yet.

“And you can’t afford a detention anytime soon, James. You have Quidditch practice nearly every night that you can’t miss,” she said.

 James’s face seemed to relax with this information. “True, but he deserves it.”

 “And I’m sure you will get him one day but for now you need to focus on winning the Quidditch Cup for Gryffindor,” said Hermione, still trying to change the subject. “When is your first Quidditch match, again?”

 “It’s soon, actually. The first weekend in November,” said James, whose expression had gone back to normal.

 Her idea for changing the subject to Quidditch worked a little too well. Luckily, she only had to endure Quidditch talk for a little while until they subject had been changed again. Dinner conversation had gone back to as normal as they ever were with the Marauders.

 That was until an owl flew into the Great Hall and landed in Peter’s pudding with a crash.

 Sirius laughed as Peter looked down at his pudding splattered robes in shock.

 “Who sends owls at this hour?” wondered Remus to no one in particular.

 “I wasn’t even finished with that…” grumbled Peter as he took the letter from the owl and flipped it over. His eyebrow went up as he read the name written on it and handed the letter to Hermione. “It’s for you…”

 Curiosity overcame Hermione as she took the letter. Who could possibly be writing her?

 She must not have been the only one thinking this because James was staring at her oddly.

 “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you get a letter before, Hermione,” he said.

 “Come to think of it, neither have I,” said Sirius.

 Remus and Peter also mumbled their agreements.

 “Don’t be daft, of course I’ve gotten letters before,” said Hermione, trying her hardest to not have her lie known. “Just because you haven’t noticed me getting letters doesn’t mean I haven’t gotten them.”

“No really, I’ve never seen an owl deliver you anything,” said James earnestly.

 “Then you should pay more attention,” said Hermione.

 Maybe she should send herself fake letters to avoid suspicion… but that was a problem for another day.

 The four boys watched her as she flipped the letter over and opened the envelope, pulling out a short piece of parchment from inside and reading it.

  _Dear Ms. Dawson,_

_I_ _hope this letter finds you in the best of health. It has been a while since we chatted. Please visit my office after dinner this evening._

_Sincerely,_

_Albus Dumbledore._

After quickly reading it over again, Hermione put the letter in her bag. She looked up at the staff table and noticed that the headmaster’s seat was empty.

 “It was from Dumbledore,” she said with a small frown as she looked back at the Marauders, who were still watching her. “I’m having a meeting with him after dinner. He likes to check up on me to see how I’m adjusting.”

 “I sometimes forget that you’ve transferred here this year,” said James. “I feel as though you’ve always been here. It’s like I’ve known you a lot longer than I have. You just seem to… belong.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” said Remus, giving Hermione a warm smile, and Hermione smiled back. As she looked at Remus, the other Marauders, and then at Lily and Mary down the table, she couldn’t help but feel like maybe a part of her did belong 

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

Professor Dumbledore’s office doors stood ajar as Hermione finished climbing the stairs behind the gargoyle. She peaked her head into the office and saw him sitting behind his large wooden desk.

“Ah, come in, Ms. Granger,” smiled Dumbledore when he spotted her. “Sit down.”

The use of her real last name seemed odd to her. It had been over a month since someone had addressed her using her real name and her shock over its usage made her feel strange. She had become too accustomed to being Hermione Dawson and she felt a surge of guilt wash over herself.

Hermione crossed the office and sat down in a chair across from Dumbledore. It was still early in the evening but many of the portraits behind Dumbledore were dozing in slumber; or at least pretending to so they could listen in on their conversation.

“Good evening, sir,” said Hermione.

“Good evening, Hermione,” said Dumbledore with a smile. “You had a strange expression on your face when I used your surname as you entered.”

It wasn’t a question and Hermione shifted uncomfortably in her chair. Nothing seemed to get past Dumbledore. “It’s just been a while since I’ve had someone use my last name, sir. It caught me slightly off guard.”

“Yes, it has been a while, which is why I sent for you. I wished to see how you were doing. It has been over a month since you appeared at my office door in the middle of the night and we have not spoken since,” said Dumbledore with a faint smile.

“I believe that I’m adjusting well, sir. It’s been easier ever since you gave me the advice to befriend students here. My friends no longer seem suspicious of me which is a good sign.”

Dumbledore’s blue eyes twinkled behind his half-moon spectacles. “I am glad to hear that. The professors here are also incredibly pleased with your work ethic and progress in their classes. You seem to thrive here.”

 Hermione felt her face going red. “I’m doing the same as I had in my own time as well, sir.”

“Be that as it may, the professors are very fond of having you in class,” said Dumbledore.

As nice as it was to hear that the professors liked having her in class, Hermione hoped that Dumbledore hadn’t just called her to his office for small talk.

“Sir, is there another reason you called me here tonight? Did you figure out a way to send me back to 1996?” asked Hermione hopefully, moving to the edge of her chair.

The smile left Dumbledore’s face and he frowned.

“Sadly, there has been no progress in that matter,” said Dumbledore.

Sighing, Hermione leaned back in her chair in disappointment.

“I hope you will excuse my lack of findings,” said Dumbledore, who began fiddling with one of the silver instruments on his desk. “I’m sure you are aware of the war in this current time, with you being from the future. I am doing my best to help you return home but my main focus at this time is securing the safety of the wizarding world.”

Hermione immediately felt guilty. “Of course, sir. I completely understand and would never want you to take time away from the war effort.”

He looked back at her but something had changed in his eyes; the twinkle was gone and they seemed colder. “You know the outcome of this war,” he said slowly.

Again, it was not a question. Hermione could feel her face growing hot and she was unaware of how she was supposed to respond.

“Yes, sir?” she answered hesitantly, feeling uncomfortable again.

His face turned back to his usual calm composure and he gave her a soft smile. “I think that should be all for tonight, Hermione,” said Dumbledore is a very dismissive tone.

“What-? Yes, of course, sir,” said Hermione, standing up, completely baffled.

As she stood up and turned to leave the office Dumbledore cleared his throat and she turned around to face him again.

“I almost forgot,” he said with a smile. He reached into his desk and pulled out a small pouch and tossed it to her. “Your monthly spending money. I believe there is a Hogsmeade trip in the near future.”

“Thank you, sir,” said Hermione. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Ms. Granger.”

Hermione turned back around and quickly walked out of his office.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

Dumbledore’s change of manner still bothered Hermione as she entered the Gryffindor Common Room. There had been something that flickered in his eyes that seemed… off.

She shook her head. The look must have been a figment of her imagination.

She had barely made it halfway across the common room when Remus entered from the staircase. When he spotted her his face broke into a grin.

“Hermione,” he said as he walked further into the common room. “I’m glad you’re back. How was your talk with Dumbledore?”

She caught sight of him quickly tucking a piece of parchment into his robes which could only have been the Marauder’s Map. She suppressed a grin. It was almost as if he had been waiting for her.

“It was a little strange,” she said honestly, “but it’s nice to know that he’s doing his best to make me feel comfortable here.”

Remus nodded. “He can be a little strange but his intentions are pure. Did you still want to catch up?”

“Of course,” smiled Hermione. She started to walk towards a set of empty armchairs but Remus held her back.

“Actually, I thought maybe we could go somewhere else so we won’t be overheard.”

“Overheard?” asked Hermione. She looked around the common room. There was only a few groups of people sitting around. None of them seemed like they’d want to eavesdrop on a conversation between her and Remus and she couldn’t think of a reason for them to want to. Then she noticed Remus cock his head slightly in the direction of the boys’ dormitory and she understood. “Oh, alright, yes. Lead the way.”

Hermione followed Remus out of the portrait hole. The corridor was quiet and dark. It felt odd being out so close to curfew. Almost as if she were on prefect rounds with Ron like last year. Her heartbeat sped up slightly at the possibility of breaking the rules. It was like the adrenaline rushes that she had learned to love after going on so many adventures with Harry and Ron. It made her feel alive.

They stopped in front of the closest empty classroom that they came across and Remus opened the door and beckoned Hermione to follow him.

It was dark in the classroom, none of the torches were lit and the only light was coming from the moon, which was now slightly less full, which was visible through the large windows that lined ones of the stone walls. She recognized the room as one of the unused classrooms she and Harry had used in their fourth year to prepare him for the Triwizard Tournament.

Remus peered back into the corridor and looked both ways before shutting the door. He walked past Hermione to one of the desks and sat on top of it before turning to face her in the doorway.

“You’re acting as though we’re about to commit a heinous crime,” observed Hermione as she walked further into the dark room.

“Well, we are breaking school rules,” said Remus. “Or we will be once curfew starts in about—” he looked down at his watch, “—ten minutes.”

“Why didn’t you want people to overhear us?” asked Hermione. “When you said private earlier I didn’t think you meant literally in private. I thought it meant just the two of us.”

She moved around the room, waving her wand, and lit the torches, bringing in a flood of warm amber light to the room. The light caused shadows to cover half of Remus’s face and illuminate some of his scars on the other half. Hermione pretended not to notice.

“Because, if we were to talk alone in the common room then we risk the possibility of being interrupted. This way, no one can find us,” said Remus.

She noticed him subconsciously touch his robes where she was sure he had tucked away the Marauder’s Map and she smirked.

“You know, that sounds slightly like something a serial killer would say,” said Hermione airily. She crossed the room and sat on top of a desk in front of Remus and looked at him while sliding her schoolbag off of her shoulder. “The whole “no one can find us’ bit.”

“Or something forbidden lovers would say,” said Remus casually with a shrug. “But neither of those things are true.”

“Lovers?” said Hermione, raising her eyebrow at him. Something about the statement embarrassed her and she willed herself not to blush. Her mind started to trail back to Ron but she shook the thought from her head. Ron seemed like a million years ago.

Remus laughed at her expression. “Like Romeo and Juliet.”

“You’ve read Romeo and Juliet?” asked Hermione, trying not to show her surprise.

Most wizards went out of their way to avoid all things muggle so it was nice to hear that someone raised in a wizarding household would choose to read things from the muggle world.

“My mother is quite fond of muggle literature,” he said with a small shrug. “She loved stories written by muggles, especially ones written about magic. Like Macbeth. She persuaded me to read a lot of stories by muggles.”

Hermione couldn’t help but feel impressed with this information. It was interesting seeing this side of Remus Lupin. In her time, she never would have expected how much she had in common with her third year Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

“You’re a very extraordinary wizard, I hope you realize that, Remus,” said Hermione fondly. “Not many wizards would read muggle literature, much less admit to it.”

He chuckled faintly and shook his head. “Thank you, Hermione, but there’s really nothing extraordinary about me.”

“Oh don’t be modest,” said Hermione, rolling her eyes. “You’re kind, funny, incredibly smart, a leader, and I am so glad that you wanted to be my friend.”

It might have been the amber hue of the torchlight, but something seemed to change in his expression at her words. Not in the troubling way Professor Dumbledore’s expression had changed earlier that day but in a way where his face seemed somewhat younger, warmer, and slightly more hopeful.

“I’m glad we’re friends as well,” said Remus with the corner of his mouth turning up into a smile.

“But going back to the fact that you wanted to talk outside of the common room,” said Hermione with a faint smile of her own, “why is it you didn’t want to be overheard? What is it that you wanted to discuss that you didn’t want James, Sirius, or Peter to hear?”

Remus shrugged gently. “Nothing in particular. I guess it was because I hadn’t spoken to just you in a while and wanted the opportunity to talk to you without the others interrupting. They can be… ah, what’s a good word… distracting.”

Hermione laughed. Distracting was a perfect way to describe the other three boys, especially James and Sirius.

“Well, I can start by telling you about the lessons you missed while you were away,” said Hermione brightly. She pulled her bag closer and opened it. “I have all my notes here and we can go over them.”

“Sounds like a plan,” grinned Remus.

The two of them spent the rest of their time going over the notes Hermione had taken for the two days of classes Remus had missed. It wasn’t truly difficult information and Remus picked it up fairly quickly.

They hadn’t realized much time had passed until they heard the sound of a door closing and echoing down the corridor. The sound was loud and caused both Remus and Hermione’s heads to snap towards the door.

“It could be a prefect on rounds,” said Remus in a quiet voice. “If they check in here I’m sure they wouldn’t penalize a fellow prefect. Well, maybe not a Slytherin prefect... depends which one we get.”

Hermione looked out the window and noticed how truly dark the sky had become since they arrived.

“Remus, what time is it?”

Remus rolled up his sleeve and looked down at his watch and both of his eyebrows rose. “Blimey, it’s nearly midnight. I hadn’t realized how long we’ve been here.”

“We should go back to the common room,” said Hermione. “We need to get some sleep before class tomorrow.”

Remus simply nodded.

Together, they packed up Hermione’s notes, which were now scattered across several desks, and they put out the torches around the classroom.

Similarly to how they entered the classroom, Remus peeked his head out into the corridor to see if anyone was approaching before beckoning Hermione to follow him.

Their journey back to Gryffindor Tower was a silent one but Hermione could not help but feel that it was nothing after their week and a half of silence. If anything, that silence had proven that they still could be friends and Hermione was sure that her friendship with Remus and the other Marauders was stronger because of it.


	12. Hogsmeade Adventures and Halloween Scaress

* * *

Chapter 12 - Hogsmeade Adventures and Halloween Scares

* * *

 

A chill had spread through the castle as November neared and Hogwarts residents could barely remember the strange heatwave that October had started with. The grounds was covered with leaves as the trees started to bare and the grass was slightly less green and had a certain crunch to it. Yet, no one seemed particularly effected by this sudden change in temperature due to the excitement of the first Hogsmeade trip of the year, which would be taking place that Halloween weekend.

Light chatter roused Hermione from her slumber the morning of Halloween. Groggily, she slightly pulled open the scarlet curtains surrounding her bed and peered into sunlit dormitory. The chatter came from Lily’s bed and Hermione spotted both Lily and Mary sitting on it and quietly but energetically talking. Usually Mary was the last of the three Gryffindor girls to wake so seeing her up before her intrigued Hermione. What was even more interesting was that both Mary and Lily were already fully dressed and looked like they were ready for the trip into the village.

Swinging her feet over the side of her bed, Hermione pulled her curtains all the way open and stepped down on the wooden floor when Mary looked across the dormitory towards Hermione.

“Sorry, did we wake you?” asked Mary with an apologetic smile.

Hermione yawned and waved her hand dismissing Mary’s concern. “It’s fine, I should be getting up regardless. What time is it anyway? 

“Nearly 8 o’clock,” said Lily with a smile. 

Before Hermione could thank her, Mary jumped off of Lily’s bed and bounced towards Hermione, taking hold of her shoulders. 

“Are you ready for Hogsmeade?!” she said, beaming at Hermione and shaking her shoulders slightly. “And it’s also Halloween so we have the feast tonight!” 

Amused, Hermione moved Mary’s hands off of her shoulders and back to Mary’s side as Mary continued to bounce up and down on the heels of her feet. Her excitement was infectious and Hermione couldn’t help but feel excited for the trip into Hogsmeade as well.

“Yes, Mary,” laughed Hermione. “I’m very excited about Hogsmeade. Maybe not as much as you… but still very excited.”

“I just really like Halloween and these weekend trips,” defended Mary, crossing her arms, but she was still grinning from ear to ear.

Mary’s excitement was one of the things that made her standout to Hermione. There were moments when Mary became very enthusiastic about something and her emotions seemed to magnetize by a hundred. When she was excited, her delight pooled out of her and flooded the entire room, yet, that also held true when Mary was upset. It would not be wise to cross Mary if she were not in a good mood.

Lily stood up from her and walked over next to Mary, she looked as amused as Hermione felt at Mary’s display of joy. “Still plan on meeting up with us around lunchtime?” she asked Hermione.

Not long after the Hogsmeade trip had been posted on the Gryffindor notice board, James had wasted no time in corning her and asking her to accompany him, Sirius, Remus, and Peter to Hogsmeade. She had agreed happily but later slightly regretted it when Lily and Mary asked her to attend the trip with them and the group of girls from Hufflepuff that Mary was good friends with. Lily and Mary’s discouraged faces had made her feel guilty that night after she told them that James had already asked her, but she had agreed to go with the boys and she had to admit that she was looking forward to going with them. So she had worked it out with everyone that she would spend half the day with the boys and meet up with Lily and Mary for the remainder of the time.

The guilt she felt was odd. There had never been a time in her life where she had to choose between people to hang out with. It had always been her, Harry, and Ron. They were an unbreakable trio. It had never even crossed her mind in her time to have more than one group of friends. Now she had two groups of people wanting to spend time with her.

It was exhausting.

“Of course, I’ll probably be tired of the boys by then anyways,” smiled Hermione, which would probably be true knowing the kinds of shops they’d want to go to, but she was slightly nervous about spending time with all of the Hufflepuff girls.

“Okay great. We’re headed to breakfast, so you can get ready now. See you later!” said Mary and Lily and the two of them exited the dormitory.

Once she was alone, Hermione began to silently dress. It didn’t take her long to realize that she never bought any clothes for the colder weather and she would definitely need at least a scarf on her trip into the village.

She wished she had realized it earlier so she could have borrowed something from either Lily or Mary. Upset with herself, Hermione quickly finished dressing in the warmest clothes she could manage and grabbed her bag before leaving the dormitory herself.

Once she stepped foot into the common room, a thought popped into her head that Remus would probably have an extra scarf that he would lend her. She was supposed to meet the boys at breakfast but it was still early so there was a good chance that they were probably getting ready. There would be no harm in her going to their dormitory and asking Remus for a scarf instead of asking at the Great Hall and having to come back up to Gryffindor Tower.

So instead of meeting the boys in the Great Hall for breakfast like they had planned, Hermione walked towards the boys’ staircase. She was slightly nervous, she had never been to their dormitory before and she hoped that she wasn’t overstepping any boundaries.

It didn’t take her long to spot the door with the four boys’ names on it. She hesitated slightly before knocking three times. There was the sound of shuffling on the other side of the door and a few moments later it swung open.

“Hermione?”

Standing before her was a surprised and disheveled James Potter. By the looks of him, it appeared that he had just woken up. He was wearing a set of scarlet plaid pajama pants with a plain grey t-shirt and his black hair was messier than Hermione had ever seen it. His large rectangular glasses were crooked on his face, like he had just shoved them on in a hurry.

Slightly embarrassed at finding him in pajamas, Hermione willed herself not to turn pink as she stared at James’s startled face. She had seen Harry and Ron loads of times in pajamas but, even with James resembling Harry so much, it was strange to walk in on him being so vulnerable.

“Er, hi James,” said Hermione after a moment of the two of them just staring at each other. “I just came up here to ask Remus if I could borrow a scarf… it seems I have forgotten to pack mine with me and it’s going to be a chilly trip to Hogsmeade today.”

James blinked before taking a step back from the door. “Well, you don’t have to just stand in the staircase. Come on in, I’ll grab you a scarf.”

With a small smile, Hermione stepped past him and into the dormitory, the other three boys were nowhere to be seen. The room looked exactly the same as all the other dormitories but it was much messier than Harry, Ron, Neville, Seamus, and Dean’s had been and far more decorated. Clothes and a random assortment of items littered the floor and scarlet and gold posters and banners plastered the walls. The room gave off more Gryffindor pride than Hermione had ever seen.

“Sorry about the mess,” said James, causing Hermione to stop examining the dormitory and look back at James. “We don’t get many visitors in here.”

Hermione smirked. “Don’t worry I’ve seen worse. Where are the others?”

James pursed his lips. “Probably at breakfast. The bloody gits left me here! Would you believe the three of them didn’t wake me up when they went down to the Great Hall? If your knock on the door hadn’t woken me I’d still be asleep…”

James crossed his arms and he angrily looked at nothing in particular. His messy appearance and betrayed look made him a sight to see. Hermione was sure the other boys wouldn’t have left him there for the trip but she was far too amused at the way James was behaving to tell him that.

“I actually can believe that,” said Hermione trying to suppress a grin at his disheveled appearance. That was when she noticed that not only did James look like he had woken up, his arms and face were also covered in dirt. “Did they also throw dirt on you? You look absolutely filthy…”

The angry look diminished and James looked down at his arms with a look of confusion before he smirked slightly. “Oh that. I had Quidditch practice at the crack of dawn today. I got back about an hour ago, threw on my pajamas, and just passed out on my bed hoping to rest before we went into the village… I didn’t even bother to shower,” as James said this, he lifted the collar of his T-shirt and bent his neck to smell it and then pulled away quickly with a sour face. Hermione didn’t know whether or not to find it funny or repulsive. “Speaking of which, I desperately need to shower but damned will I show up to the Great Hall alone like an idiot. Would you mind waiting for me?”

“Here?” asked Hermione, looking around the dormitory and feeling slightly uncomfortable at the idea of waiting there alone.

“Or I could meet you downstairs, which ever you prefer,” said James with an expression that could almost be read as pleading. “I’ll be quick I swear. My trunk is over there under my bed, you can grab whatever scarf you’d like from it, I know that there’s at least two in there.”

Before Hermione could even answer James had run out of the room.

With a sigh, Hermione turned her attention back to examining the dormitory. Asides from all of the Gryffindor items on the walls, the areas around each bed seemed to be personalized. Posters of motorcycles and muggle girls in bikinis were on the walls behind the bed closest to the window. Hermione assumed they were muggles based on the fact that the women were stationary in the picture. This contrasted with the pictures that _did_ move next them, pictures of the four Gryffindor boys. Even without the trunk with his initials on it, Hermione still would have been able to tell that this was Sirius’s bed.

Each bed was easily distinguishable by the personal items surrounding it. Hermione noticed that Peter had a chocolate frog card collection that would even put Ron’s to shame, and that James must have been a bigger Quidditch fan that both Harry and Ron combined based on his posters and flags behind his bed. His bed was still unmade with traces of dirt on it which made Hermione shake her head at how ridiculous the boys were. Remus had the most books piled next to his bed and what appeared to be chocolate bar wrappings littering his nightstand. But the thing that stood out the most was the calendar that was hanging on the wall besides Remus’s bed, one that marked the cycle of the moon.

As Hermione was about to look away she noticed his trunk slightly sticking out from under his bed. She leaned over to get a closer look at the trunk with the boy’s name on it when a memory flooded into her head:

_"Who d'you reckon he is?" Ron hissed as they sat down and slid the door shut, taking the seats farthest away from the window._

_"Professor R. J. Lupin." whispered Hermione at once._

_"How'd you know that?"_

_"It's on his case," she replied, pointing at the luggage rack over the man's head, where there was a small, battered case held together with a large quantity of neatly knotted string. The name Professor R. J. Lupin was stamped across one corner in peeling letters._

The memory of her, Harry, and Ron sitting on the train with a shabby looking stranger seemed so far off and felt like it happened a lifetime ago, not just three years. Well, in her current reality it hadn’t even happened yet.

Before she gave herself a headache, she stood all the way up and turned away from the trunk before she did something stupid and cry at the distant memory of her old life. Instead, she crossed the room and headed back towards James’s area to get a scarf from his trunk.

She was quick to notice that James’s trunk was just as messy as his bed area. Not feeling completely comfortable digging through James’s belongings, Hermione thought it would be best to just summon a scarf.

“ _Accio scarf_ ” she said as she pointed her wand at James’s open trunk.

Two hand knit maroon scarves came flying from the trunk, knocking all sorts of clothes and objects out of their way as they landed in Hermione’s outstretched hand. That was when she noticed something else that had fallen out of the trunk. To anyone else it would have just appeared to be a piece of spare parchment but Hermione knew better.

Her breath caught as she gently picked up the Marauder’s Map as if it were an explosive device and slowly sat down on the edge of James’s bed. Unlike the other reminders of her time that she’d come across, it wasn’t the memories of the map that made her uneasy; it was something that she had completely overlooked when she arrived there.

“ _I solemnly swear that I am up to no good_ ,” she shakily whispered into the parchment on her lap.

As the ink spread across the map, Hermione’s heart hammered in her chest. How could she have been so foolish to forget about the map? It was a dead giveaway that she had been lying since she arrived and she highly doubted that the marauders hadn’t used the map in the two months she’s been at Hogwarts with them. In fact, she was almost certain James and Sirius had used it on the night of her birthday.

When the ink finished spreading across the map Hermione’s heart seemed to stop all together. She blinked and had to make sure she was looking at the right spot because it clearly stated that in the Gryffindor boys’ dormitory there was a Hermione Dawson.

It didn’t make any sense. The map was never wrong! It should say her name was still Hermione Granger, not Dawson. Hermione Dawson didn’t even exist!

A million ideas started to float around in her brain but she couldn’t settle on one single theory that would suggest why her name showed up as Hermione Dawson. Maybe since she was a transplant in that time that the map took the name she decided to give herself? Or maybe since Hermione Granger hadn’t been born yet the map couldn’t locate her; but then why did it say her made up surname?

She didn’t have much time to worry about it because at that moment James’ dot was headed back towards the dormitory.

Quickly, Hermione whispered “ _Mischief Managed!_ ” and shoved the map back into James’ trunk and closed it. It was perfect timing too because no sooner did she put the map back did the dormitory door swing open. Hermione quickly grabbed the two scarves that she had taken and tried to make herself look busy.

“See, I didn’t take too long,” said James with a toothy grin. He was already dressed in his day clothes but had a towel wrapped around his head. Even then, strands of his wet, jet black hair were sticking out beneath it, still impossible to tame, “I see you found the scarves. Feel free to use whichever and I’ll take the one you don’t use, I don’t mind.”

“Sure,” cracked Hermione. She gave a small cough and James looked at her curiously. “Yes… I think I’ll go with this one. Thank you James.”

Not actually paying attention to which scarf she chose, she held up the scarf in her right hand.

“Are you alright Hermione?” asked James with an eyebrow raised. He slowly pulled the towel off of his head and began to rub it through his hair, making it even messier. “You’re acting a bit strange.”

Willing herself to not give anything away, Hermione forced a smile. “No no, I’m fine really.”

James glanced down at his trunk by Hermione’s feet and then looked back up at Hermione as if trying to put all of the clues together but he seemed to give up. With a shrug, he ran his towel through his hair one last time before tossing it past Hermione and onto his already messy bed.

“Right, well are you ready to go?” asked James with a smirk.

“Ready now that I have this,” grinned Hermione as she held up James’ scarf.

Together, the two of them headed out the boys’ dormitory and although she wore a smile on her face, Hermione couldn’t help but worry about what she had seen on the map.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

“Wait until you get to experience Hogsmeade, Hermione,” said Sirius, flashing her a grin from across the table.

The Great Hall was already buzzing with excitement once James and Hermione had arrived at breakfast. The trip was everything anyone, who was a third year and up, was talking about. That and the upcoming Hogwarts feast that Hermione had to pretend she had no prior knowledge of. Most of the excitement came from both of these events happening on the same day.

Worrying about the map seemed pointless at this time so she shoved the thought of it towards the back of her head. She would work out an explanation eventually, there had to be a logical reason behind it. But for now she was going to enjoy the day with her friends.

Hermione rolled her eyes but smiled at Sirius’s excitement. “Sirius, you know that I went to Hogsmeade a number of times when I spent the summer here. I’ve already told you that,” she said as she took a fork full of scrambled eggs.

Now it was Sirius’s turn to roll his eyes at her. “Oh that’s different! You have to experience it with the rest of the school! It’s far more exciting that way.”

Thinking back to her summer alone at Hogwarts, Hermione had to agree. Hogsmeade was a great town to spend time in, and to her it was especially unique due to the fact that it was solely a wizarding community. Yet, over the summer, as she had shopped for clothing and school supplies by herself or just had ventured into the town for something to do, she had felt that the town had lost some of its charm that the school visits had.

“I agree with Sirius. It’s much more worthwhile going with the school. I’ve been there a few times with my parents and it’s not really the same,” said Remus, echoing the thoughts in Hermione’s head.

“Well, I’m looking forward to it,” grinned Hermione.

“Look forward to going to Zonko’s,” said Sirius, taking a bite of his toast. “Best joke shop in all of Great Britain.”

“Maybe even the world,” followed James.

“I don’t know about you guys,” said Peter with a gleam in his eyes, “but the best place will be Honeydukes.”

“I could certainly use some Honeydukes’ chocolate,” said Remus with a nod of agreement towards Peter. “But we definitely need to take Hermione to The Three Broomsticks.”

There were murmurs of agreement from the other boys and Hermione smirked as she took a sip of her tea.

Suddenly, James’ head shot up and snapped in Sirius’s direction.

“What is it?” said Sirius, alarm visible in his face. He wasn’t the only one, they all seemed to tense up at James’ sudden movement.

“I’ve only just remembered something,” said James, looking surprised at everyone’s worried faces, “I found it out at Quidditch practice and was going to tell you after my nap but you gits left me and came here instead.”

There was a collective sigh as they all relaxed.

“Blimey, mate,” said Sirius shaking his head, suppressing a grin. “Don’t do that, you had me scared half to death. What did you find out?”

“What on Earth did you think I was going to say?” said James looking bewildered.

“I have no idea, mate, but you looked as if you were ready to fight someone,” replied Sirius.

James smirked slightly before giving Sirius an odd look. “Did you know your darling younger brother Regulus is the new Slytherin seeker?”

Sirius, who had just taken a swig of pumpkin juice sputtered and dripped the juice down his front. Remus and Peter stared at James with looks of shock.

Hermione, who had completely forgotten about Regulus due to him never previously being brought up felt a pang of resentment towards the fact that he had never been mentioned to her.

“He’s their new seeker?” said Sirius in disbelief.

“You have a brother here?” followed Hermione, who was mad at herself for forgetting that Sirius had a brother at Hogwarts.

Remus crookedly smiled wearily. “I’m not surprised he made the team. He’s a favorite amongst the Slytherins. But I am surprised that it took him until his fifth year to actually tryout for the team.”

Sirius pursed his lips while cleaning himself up with napkins. “Well he is mister perfect. Not really shocking.” He rolled his eyes. “And yes, Hermione. My younger brother Regulus Arcturus Black, the pride of the Black family.”

Sirius’s attention turned towards the Slytherin table and Hermione followed his gaze.

“That’s him there,” said Sirius as he pointed across the hall.

Towards the middle of the Slytherin table there was a large group of fifth year Slytherins. It didn’t take long for Hermione to realize which one was Regulus. He had the same black hair as Sirius and shared the same dark good looks, but he was slightly less handsome and smaller in stature than his Gryffindor brother.

“Why haven’t you mentioned him before this?” asked Hermione curiously.

Sirius’s eyes grew darker, causing Hermione to worry. She had never seen Sirius, who was always laughing and cracking jokes, so bothered.

“We aren’t close,” muttered Sirius under his breath.

Hermione noticed the other Marauders’ expressions had all changed around the table, even they knew that it was strange to see Sirius so – well – _serious._

“We used to be close as children,” continued Sirius when no one else said anything. “Things changed when I came to Hogwarts and was sorted into Gryffindor. Broke my dear old mum’s heart to see her first born son not in Slytherin, and in Gryffindor nonetheless!” Sirius’s tone became more sarcastic with every word and the other Marauders’ expressions went back to normal, clearly having heard the story many times.

But Hermione was captivated. She had heard about Sirius’s childhood many times from many different people during her time, and some stories came directly from Sirius, but it was different hearing it from him now, knowing that these memories were so fresh in his mind. It was a raw confessional, unlike the stories that Sirius had so calculated in his head over the years of being away from his family.

“My brother became mummy’s favorite after he was sorted into Slytherin like the rest of my family. She doted on him and left me to myself – not that I can complain,” said Sirius with a dark smirk. “He’s my mother’s favorite while I’m the family embarrassment, it wouldn’t look great for either of us if I were to hang out with my brother. Not that he is even considered my brother anymore.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Hermione. Remus sent her a strange look but Hermione ignored him, she was genuinely curious of the Black brothers relationship.

“Oh, I’ve been blasted off the Black family tree,” said Sirius cheerily, as if he was announcing that he had just been appointed Prefect. “Disowned by the whole lot this summer. Never felt freer!”

Hermione let out a small gasp. She had obviously known this already but seeing Sirius, and how young he still was, amazed her at how someone could throw their sixteen year old child out of the house and disown them, just like that…

“But it’s okay Hermione,” reassured Sirius. He laughed as he took in her expression of both horror and pity. “No really! It’s the best thing to happen to me. Now I live with the Potters, they took me in as their own.”

Sirius beamed at Hermione and threw his arm across James’s shoulders and James grinned back. “Now we’re truly brothers,” said James. Hermione felt her heart swell with fondness for the boys in front of her. “Even if you did leave me to rot in the dormitory earlier.”

James laughed as Sirius playfully pushed James away from him.

“I can’t believe you’ve never mentioned that either,” said Hermione, but she wasn’t upset about being left out. If anything she felt as if the boys finally trusted her enough to tell her personal things.

Sirius grinned and shrugged, “It would have been odd for me to just blurt it out in everyday conversation. Like when we’re doing our potions essays and I just go ‘oh, by the way Hermione, I have a perfect Slytherin brother and I’ve just been disowned by my family and I’m living with Prongs now.’ Bit of a strange way to bring that up, wouldn’t you say?”

Peter laughed, “that sure would be something, Padfoot.”

“It probably would be a strange thing to just tell someone you just met,” smiled Hermione, ignoring Peter. “None of the rest of you have secret siblings here do you?” asked Hermione to the other boys, who all spoke at the same time.

“Nope,” said Peter.

“I’m an only child,” shrugged Remus

“Not that I know of, but you never truly know, do you?” said James.

Hermione laughed again and shook her head. She took another sip of her morning tea as they continued with their breakfast.

Suddenly, students around them began to stand up and make their way out of the Great Hall, all chatting excitedly, leaving being sulking first and second years.

“I guess it’s time to go,” smiled Remus as he began to stand up.

“Where should we head to first?” asked Peter as he too stood up.

“Zonko’s!” said James and Sirius in unison.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

The walk to the village had been a pleasant one and Hermione realized that she had made the right decision in asking for a scarf. There was a brisk wind and the sun was hiding away behind the British clouds. But the cold didn’t have much of an effect on her as she greatly enjoyed the company of the Marauders.

Sirius seemed keen on giving Hermione the grand tour of Hogsmeade, much to her dismay. James, Remus, and Peter were amused by him at first but after an hour had passed and they realized that Hermione knew the village pretty well, they too began to get annoyed.

True to their words, James and Sirius made the group’s first stop Zonko’s Joke Shop. There wasn’t a single display that the five of them didn’t look at, and Hermione had to admit; there were a handful of items that caught her eye. Particularly, there was invisible ink that could only be viewed if the buyer has given someone permission to view it. It was meant so students could send notes to each other in class and not have unwanted eyes see it but Hermione thought it would be a great tool to stop cheating during exams.

“Not everything has to be for school, Hermione,” said Sirius, rolling his eyes at her when she brought this up.

“She’s right, you know,” said Remus, and Hermione smiled at him. “The Ministry could use it for private documents as well.”

“Well, hope that no one else is smart enough to use it for that,” said James, “or Padfoot may never pass an exam again!”

Watching James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus excitedly make their was through the joke shop was like seeing children given free rein in a candy store for the first time. Which brought them to their second stop; Honeydukes.

Honeydukes was far more crowded than Zonko’s had been, especially as it was nearing lunchtime. The gang seemed to split up upon entering the store, all to collect their favorite treats.

Peter immediately walked over to the Chocolate Frog stand, probably to expand on his card collection, James went right to the Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans, Remus walked to far side of the store to look at the huge arrays of different chocolate bars, while Sirius found himself looking at exploding bonbons and pepper imps.

Not able to hide her own excitement, Hermione ventured into the aisles of the most amazing looking candy. She saw bubblegum that emitted real bubbles as it was chewed, ice cream that was sitting over a flame but never melted, and peppermint toads that actually hopped in your stomach after you ate them. It was also nice to see the excited faces of third years who had never experienced the store before.

Although she didn’t have much of a sweet tooth, probably from being raised by two dentists, Hermione managed to let herself buy some beautiful looking sugar quills, but the deluxe kind because she knew they’d last longer.

“Good haul this time,” said Peter with a toothy grin as the five of them exited the store and continued down the main path of Hogsmeade carrying bags full of sweets and items from Zonko’s. The four boys had enough sweets to last them the year, making Hermione wonder what wizards did for cavities. There must be a spell or potion for them and the boys probably needed it often.

“I’ll say!” grinned Sirius, reaching into one of his Honeyduke’s bags and plopping a pepper imp into his mouth. Immediately, flames burst from his mouth, managing to catch the end of James’s scarf on fire.

Before James even had time to react to the fact that Sirius had set him on fire Remus shouted “ _Augamenti!_ ” and a small stream of water extinguished James.

“Maybe I should save these for later,” said Sirius casually, as if he didn’t just set his best friend on fire.

“Careful!” said James, looking slightly bewildered. “My mum knit this scarf.”

“Hang on, isn’t that also your scarf?” said Peter, as he pointed to the scarf around Hermione’s neck.

Instinctively, Hermione put her hand on the scarf, wondering why Peter seemed to care.

“Seems so,” said Remus giving both Hermione and James a curious look.

“I managed to forget to pack my scarf with me so James lent me one. You lot would have known if you hadn’t abandoned James this morning,” said Hermione with a playfully accusational tone. “But that actually reminds me! Can you guys give me a quick second to run into Gladrags Wizardwear so I can buy one for myself? It’s right there, so it’s not like it’s out of our way.” She pointed across the path to the clothing store.

“Why don’t you just have your mum or dad send yours to you instead of buying a new one?” asked Peter, tilting his head to the side in confusion

“My old winter wear is getting worn out anyway, it’s about time I bought some new things. Plus my mum and dad sent me some spending money for my birthday and this would be the responsible way to spend it,” defended Hermione, not wanting to give away that she couldn't have her nonexistent parents send her nonexistent winter items. “I’ll be quick I promise. Then we can head to the Three Broomsticks as planned.”

“Alright, we’ll wait here,” said Remus with a smile.

Hermione dashed into the clothing store and quickly bought a hat, gloves, a nice wool scarf, and two warm jumpers. More clothes could wait until the next trip into the village, it would be rude for her to make the boys wait outside.

It took her no more than ten minutes to conclude the shopping trip. The customers inside must have thought she was mad at how fast she was moving but she didn’t care as she weaved in and out of the crowded store before returning outside.

“Wow, that’s the fastest I’ve ever seen a girl shop in a clothing store,” said Sirius as Hermione came back into the street.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him as James gave Sirius an affronted look and whacked him behind the head.

“Oi! What was that for?” demanded Sirius.

“Your lack of tact,” said Remus simply with a small grin on his face as Peter laughed from beside him. James also looked quite pleased with himself for the rest of their walk to the Three Broomsticks.

Warm air greeted Hermione as they pushed open the door to the smoky yet cozy, crowded pub. It was far more crowded than Hermione could ever remember from her time as only a few tables were left unoccupied.

"Ah, and our table is still open!" grinned Sirius. "Follow us, Hermione."

The boys made their way through the crowded pub with Hermione trailing behind them and they found themselves at a snug corner booth close to the bar.

Sirius and James immediately took their seats on one side of the booth and Remus slid into the other side. Hermione followed Remus and sat beside him leaving Peter staring at her awkwardly.

He looked at Remus and then back at Hermione before turning to face James and Sirius.

"Aw come here, Wormtail, we'll make room," grinned James as he shoved Sirius closer to the wall to make a spot for Peter to sit.

"Thanks," mumbled Peter but he still had an off expression on his face.

"Oh, er, sorry, did I take your usual seat, Peter?" asked Hermione. As much as she wasn't very fond of Peter she didn't want to cause a problem between the other boys.

"It's not a problem, Hermione, you didn’t know. I guess we're not used to having five of us here," said Remus and he smiled at her crookedly.

"You've never had another person sitting with you guys? I find that hard to believe," said Hermione thinking about how popular the boys seemed to be.

James chuckled. "Well, we've had our fair share of girls with us, mostly Sirius. But he makes them pull up a chair."

Hermione gasped and Sirius snorted. "Sirius! You make your girlfriends pull up a chair instead of making room?"

Sirius flipped his long hair out of his face and grinned cheekily. "It hasn’t been _that_ many girls. I wouldn't use the word 'girlfriend' more like-"

"-squeeze of the day," finished James and Peter laughed from beside him.

Hermione just stared and Remus smirked and shook his head. "I'll get the first round of butterbeers," he said. 

Hermione started to get up to let him out of the booth when Sirius held up his hand and stopped her.

"Now why should we settle for butterbeers when we can get something stronger," said Sirius, wiggling his eyebrows.

"We can't get anything stronger," reminded Remus. "We're all underage."

Sirius flashed another grin and focused his gaze on Hermione, which immediately made her feel suspicious.

"Hermione here is of age, she could easily order us a round of firewhiskey and bring it back to the table."

James laughed from beside Sirius. "Rosemerta would figure it out if Hermione did that, mate."

"But Rosemerta loves us! I bet she'd let it slide."

"I certainly am not buying you illegal drinks," said Hermione, crossing her arms firmly.

“I’d pay for it of course,” said Sirius, giving Hermione his sweetest smile.

“Not going to happen,” said Hermione, staring Sirius down.

“Right… so how about some butterbeers?” said James clapping his hands together with a smile.

“A round of butterbeers then?” said a voice from beside Hermione.

She turned and looked up at a smiling girl about in her mid to late twenties. Her first thought was how pretty the girl was. The young woman’s face was pleasant to look at and she had curves that would make any boy take a second glance. She had a barmaid’s outfit on but what really stood out were the sparkling heels that she had on. It was then that Hermione realized she was staring at a young Madam Rosemerta.

“Ah Rosemerta, darling! We were just talking about you. You look beautiful today,” said Sirius, sending her a wink.

Rosemerta chuckled and shook her head. “Charming as ever, Black. I was wonderin’ when you lot would make your way to my pub.”

“Aw, did you miss us over the summer holiday?” grinned James.

“Don’t flatter yourselves too much, boys,” said Rosemerta with a wink. “Now who’s this?” Rosemerta gestured towards Hermione with a smile. “I see that you’ve let her sit at the table instead of pulling up a chair! She must be special.”

“I’m Hermione Dawson,” said Hermione “and this is now the second time I’ve heard that they make girls pull up a chair instead of actually joining them. You all are awful!” she said as she sent the boys disapproving looks while they grinned back at her.

Sirius laughed. “That’s because this booth is meant for us, they were just visiting.”

“But you’re letting me – Oh!” That’s when it resonated in her what Sirius had said. They considered her one of them and part of the group now. They could have pulled up a chair for her and she never would have known that that’s how they treated people they didn’t think would stick around. Instead, they made room for her. She was truly touched and had no words.

Remus was looking at her with a sparkle in his eyes and he started to laugh, “you seem surprised that we like you. I thought that would have been obvious by now.”

Hermione felt almost giddy and couldn’t control the smile that was forming on her flushed face.

Rosemerta was still standing there, looking slightly awkward now but still smiling. “I’ll be back with your butterbeers.”

“Wait!” Sirius almost jumped out of his seat, smacking James in the face in the process, by trying to get Rosemerta’s attention. “I would like one firewhiskey as well.”

Rosemerta stopped and stared at Sirius before bursting out laughing. “I know full well that you are not of age, Sirius Black!”

Sirius put on his best winning smile. “Rosemerta… come on, my birthday is in three days, can’t we just keep this between us?”

Hermione noticed Remus grinning while rolling his eyes as Sirius did a lame circle with his finger while bouncing his eyebrows up and down.

“Fat chance,” said Rosemerta with a smirk before walking away, her heels clicking as they hit the wooden floors.

James put his hand on Sirius’s shoulder, “next time, Padfoot.”

Sirius sighed. “It was worth a shot. But I actually have something very important to tell you guys!”

“Oh? And what would that be?” asked Remus, raising his eyebrow.

“So you know our new Defense professor, Professor Warbeck?” said Sirius.

“Yeah, I like her, I hope she sticks around,” said Peter.

“Nah, I bet you a galleon she’ll be gone by the end of the year. No one ever lasts more than a year in that position,” said James.

“You’re on,” grinned Peter and the two boys shook hands.

“Listen, listen,” said Sirius, and everyone hushed and paid attention. “I think she’s related to Celestina Warbeck!”

There was a slight pause before James started laughing. “That singer that my mum listens to?”

“She looks nothing like her except that she’s short,” said Remus. “And way shorter than Celestina Warbeck, may I add.”

“Think about it! How common is the last name Warbeck? They must be related,” said Sirius confidently.

“It’s a possibility,” said Hermione, not really buying it. Their tiny professor had been there for two months now, someone would have found out if they were related by now.

“Well, I’m going to prove it,” said Sirius with a mischievous grin, causing Remus, Hermione, and Peter to groan. This would just be another plan of his that would land him in detention.

Hermione knew it would be stupid to ask him what he was planning so she decided to stay quiet.

“I’m going to head to the loo,” said Peter after a moment’s pause.

“Hurry back, Wormy!” Sirius called out to him as Peter rolled his eyes and walked away.

Soon after Peter left, Rosemerta arrived with their butterbeers and Hermione was grateful to have the warm drink in her hands.

“I can’t believe that you are able to order anything from this pub and you still went with a butterbeer, something third years can order! Disgraceful.” said Sirius, shaking his head at her.

Pursing her lips, Hermione narrowed her eyes and brought the pint to her lips and took a long sip while staring at Sirius before placing it back down in front of her. “I like it.”

Remus laughed as Sirius grinned at her. “Whatever you say, Hermione.”

“You know, I’ve just noticed that you guys haven’t called me Dawson in a while,” remembered Hermione.

“Would you rather us call you that?” asked James, raising an eyebrow.

“No!” laughed Hermione. “I just thought it was interesting.”

“I guess we’ve just gotten to know you better,” said James with a short shrug.

“But you still refer to Lily as ‘Evans’ when you speak to her, do you not know her well enough to call her by her first name?” asked Hermione curiously and James’s face twisted into confusion as he processed this.

“Speaking of the devil,” said Sirius, nodding his head in the direction of the door of the pub and all of their heads turned.

A large group of girls from their year and Mary entered the pub led by Lily herself. After a second, Hermione realized that it was the group of Hufflepuffs that Mary and Lily spent so much time with. They were laughing and carrying shopping bags of their own. Luckily enough for them, a large table near the front window had recently opened up and the group of girls headed towards it.

James had gone completely silent as he stared across the pub at Lily.

“Aw, why don’t you just talk to her, Prongs,” said Sirius, giving his best friend a supportive look. “It’s been a month.”

“You’re right, I should,” said James but he didn’t look very enthusiastic.

“She’s just over there, go on over and say hi,” encouraged Hermione. She knew Lily was done snubbing James, all he had to do was make an effort.

“What? _Here?_ ” said James looking surprised at Hermione. “In front of everyone?”

“James, are you _scared?_ ” asked Remus with a smirk but James just pursed his lips and took a sip of his butterbeer.

“Oh for heaven’s sake,” said Hermione. “You’re being ridiculous!”

Getting to her feet, Hermione walked to the other side of the table and grabbed onto James’s sleeve and yanked but he was still resisting, clinging to the table for support. Remus and Sirius watched on in amusement.

“James, come _on_ ,” said Hermione, giving him a stern look

“No, I’ve changed my mind, Hermione,” said James as he pulled against her grip on him. “I should wait a little longer.”

With a sigh, Hermione released his arm and pursed her lips.

But James wasn’t paying attention. He was staring at the table at the front of the pub, longingly looking at Lily as she happily chatted to the group of girls.

“James?”  said Remus but James didn’t seem to hear him.

Hermione coughed to try to get his attention but it didn’t work either.

“James…” said Remus a little louder but this time with a smirk.

James’ head snapped back to reality and looked around. “Huh?”

“You look a little lost there, Prongs,” said Remus grinning at his friend across the table.

“Why don’t you just talk to her, James?” said Hermione, crossing back over to her side of the booth and returning to her seat beside Remus.

“She still won’t talk to me,” mumbled James with a small frown.

Hermione sighed. “I am quite positive that she’ll have a warmer reaction to you now. You haven’t tried talking to her in ages. I think in her own way she kind of misses you pestering her.”

It wasn’t a lie, Hermione had caught Lily staring at James when he wasn’t looking numerous times. It was as if she missed James bothering her.

“Wow, pestering,” said James rolling his eyes. “Thanks, Hermione.”

Sirius and Remus laughed and Hermione smiled apologetically. “I didn’t mean it that way. Just go talk to her.”

“She’s never going to like me,” said James and he looked so defeated that Hermione had a wild urge to hug him.

“You could always try being her friend first,” suggested Hermione gently.

There was a pause as James considered this.

“What if she blows me off in front of the Hufflepuffs?” asked James, looking worried.

“That doesn’t seem like the most likely possibility,” said Remus looking over at the girls’ table, “given the fact that she’s headed over here now.”

Lily must have just spotted Hermione because she had abandoned her table and was walking towards them, grinning and waving at Hermione.

Almost mechanically, James’s hand went through his hair before he started trying to smooth down his clothes.

By the time Lily had reached the table, James looked more of a mess than he did previously.

“Ready, Hermione?” asked Lily with a smile. “The girls are really excited to meet you.”

“Yes, I believe I’m about ready,” said Hermione. She turned to look back at James and sent him another stern look before kicking him under the table.

“Hey!” exclaimed James in pain, but his mad expression softened when he saw Lily staring at him in confusion. “Oh, right--. Er, hello Eva—Lily.”

Hermione could visibly see James gulp as he awkwardly got to his feet and faced her. It was the closest she’s seen them next to each other since their fight.

“Hello, James,” said Lily, clearly amused.

With a clear of his throat, James finally began talking. “Look, I just want to apologize for what happened at the lake. I get it, I was immature and shouldn’t have done that to Snive—Severus.”

James almost looked like he was in pain calling Snape by his first name. “I know I should stop hexing Slytherins and landing in detention, and I know that I can be a bother but I can be different. I’ll stop asking you out since you clearly would rather date a giant squid,” said James, his voice oozing with humility. “But maybe we could be… friends?”

A smile crept across Lily’s face and she seemed moved by James’s words, and Hermione had to admit that James did sound sincere, and slightly desperate. “Thank you James, that actually means a lot. We can try being friends on one condition.”

“Anything,” said James, his eyes were wide with surprise that he was even getting this far.

“Just stop hexing students in the hallways because you like it,” said Lily. “And that includes Severus. I may not be friends with him anymore but it’s still wrong.”

Hermione could see James fighting back a retort but to her surprise he bit it back and forced a smile. “Deal.”

Lily beamed, clearly impressed. “Wow, thank you, James.”

“Since we’re all friends again why don’t we all eat together at the feast tonight? Mary too, of course,” said Remus.

Hermione turned to him and smiled, “that’s a great idea!”

“You know what? Sure, why not?” said Lily with a smile to all of them.

At that moment Peter came back to the table and his beady eyes almost popped out of his head at the sight of Lily and James standing next to each other smiling.

“What’d I miss?” he asked and the rest of them laughed.

“Alright Hermione, let’s go. And bring your butterbeer!” said Lily smiling. She looked back at the boys. “It was nice to see you all, I guess I’ll see you again at the feast tonight.”

“Bye Lily,” said Remus while Sirius waved and Peter and James just stared in awe.

Hermione grabbed her butterbeer and bags and got up to follow Lily who was crossing the pub. She got a few tables away before turning and looking back at the table. Peter had taken her seat and was chatting happily with the boys. They all seemed engrossed in their conversation but Remus happened to look up and catch Hermione’s eye. He grinned and waved in her direction. Smiling, Hermione waved back before turning and continuing to follow Lily.

Lily led Hermione across the crowded pub to a large round table near the windows looking out on Hogsmeade village. At the table sat Mary, beside five Hufflepuff girls that Hermione recognized from class.

“Hey guys,” smiled Lily as she approached the table. “You all know Hermione, but I don’t think you’ve all been formally introduced.”

“No, we haven’t,” said a brunette, bespectacled girl with a grin who was sitting next to Mary. Hermione struggled to place her name, whenever she looked at her the name Alexis came to mind but that didn’t seem quite right.

Lily laughed. “Well, this is Hermione Dawson. As you know, Hermione transferred here from Beauxbaton this year, you’ve obviously seen her in class and have heard lots about her from both Mary and myself. Hermione that would be Alexa Wainwright.”

Alexa gave a friendly wave and Hermione smiled back at her. She had been close with guessing her name but also felt slightly guilty for not remembering the Hufflepuffs’ names.

One by one, Lily named each of the girls. Next to Alexa was a short, dark skinned girl with large brown eyes and a friendly smile whose name was Michelle Pickett. Beside her was a girl named Doris Cassidy who had short black hair, bright eyes, and a mischievous grin. The third girl was Joana Kelley, she was pale with curly orange hair and it didn’t surprise Hermione that she spoke with an Irish accent when she greeted her. And the last seat was taken by a thin and pretty blonde girl with green eyes and light freckles covering her nose whose name was Claudia Mahoney.

“You would also meet Sarah Connelly but she ditched us to go on a _date_. Can you believe it? Her and Jared Muller – you know, the captain of our Quidditch team – are officially an item now,” said Doris as Hermione sat in the empty seat next to Mary, Lily sitting on the other side of Hermione.

Mary raised an eyebrow “I didn’t know they were official, I thought they were just messing around.”

The blonde girl, Claudia laughed. “Doris is ahead of the game apparently, but not too far off. Sarah told us last night in the dormitory that she was going to ask Jared to go steady during their date today. They’re probably over at Madam Puddifoot’s right now talking about it over some tea.”

“Good for them,” said Lily with a smile. “It’s obvious that they’ve liked each other for a while.”

“Marcus Donner asked me out yesterday,” blurted out Mary, who was received with gasps from around the table, excluding Hermione who was sipping her butterbeer, feeling overwhelmed, and having trouble keeping up with who was who.

“What did you say?” asked Joana eagerly, looking excited.

Mary shrugged. “I told him I’d think about it and let him know for the next Hogsmeade trip because I already had plans for today. He should have asked earlier.”

“Who’s that again?” asked Hermione, feeling quite foolish as she tried to remember all the Hufflepuff girls’ names while trying to follow the conversation.

“He’s a Ravenclaw boy in our year, he’s also the Captain of their Quidditch team,” said Michelle kindly with a smile. “I’m going to get us a round of butterbeers, I know you already have one Hermione but would you like anything else?”

“Oh I’m fine, but thank you,” said Hermione, slightly taken aback at the girl’s friendliness. As Michelle walked away, Hermione began to think about how she had never really had a Hufflepuff friend during her time at school, but she began to think that she wouldn’t mind Michelle being her first.

“He’s also the boy in our charms class that was constantly the _augamenti_ charm on himself that day it was very hot,” said Mary with an amused expression.

“Ah, yes, now I remember him,” said Hermione thinking back to the Charms lesson from the beginning of the month.

“And we all saw James and him shooting the spell at each other from across the room as well,” grinned Lily and Mary laughed.

“Speaking of James…” began Alexa. “What on earth was that about over there?”

Even though the pub did not have the best lighting, Hermione swore she saw Lily blush at the question.

“You know, I cannot believe it entirely myself but James actually apologized for being an arrogant toe-rag,” smiled Lily. “Those weren’t exactly his words but it all adds up to the same thing. He wants to be friends. I think he’s finally maturing.”

“Took him five and a half years,” mumbled Mary causing Lily to reach over Hermione and give her a friendly smack on the arm, making Mary grin wider.

Doris gave a heavy sigh. “Everyone is getting together with good-looking Quidditch captains and I can’t even get a date this year. First Sarah with Jared, then Mary and Marcus, and now Lily with James…”

“Are you confessing your love for the Slytherin team captain?” giggled Alexa.

“God no!” said Doris, looking aghast.

“Calm down, Doris” laughed Mary. “Marcus and I are not even remotely ‘together’ in _any_ sense of the word... He asked me to go with him to Hogsmeade today but, as I’ve said, I already had plans so I told him no.”

“And the thought of James and me being together is ridiculous!” said Lily with wide eyes.

Hermione, who had just begun to take a long swig of her butterbeer coughed into her pint upon hearing this. Oh how little Lily knew…

“How ‘bout you Hermione, you’ve been ‘ere two months now, any boy catch your fancy?” asked Joana as Hermione tried not to bring attention to herself, obviously failing at her task.

“Oh! Um, I haven’t really been looking…” said Hermione truthfully. With her being stuck twenty years in the past, it didn’t seem like the right time to be searching for a boyfriend. She didn’t know why the question embarrassed her so much but she could feel her face start to burn.

“Just because you haven’t been looking doesn’t mean you haven’t noticed,” said Doris with a grin. “Especially when hanging around those Gryffindor boys all the time.”

“They’re just friends,” said Hermione. It was weird to even think of them in that context, especially since she was in the wrong timeline and knew of them in the future.

“But they’re all so good-looking! Well, maybe not so much Peter, bless his little soul, but the other three are quite the lookers, especially Sirius,” said Doris and she sighed and looked over in the direction of where the boys were sitting.

“Sirius is an arse,” said Mary bluntly.

“Why is it that you’ve always hated him? You never tell,” said Claudia and Hermione happened to be mirroring her thoughts as well. She didn’t understand the great dislike Mary had for Sirius. Yes, he could be rude, reckless, and an all-around pain in the arse at times but Hermione did see the side of him that was kind and she greatly did enjoy being in his company.

“I have my reasons,” was all Mary said in response.

“Well I for one agree with Doris that James, Sirius, and Remus are nice to look at,” said Claudia with a shy grin, “but I feel out of the three of them that Remus is actually the best looking. You’ve spent a lot of time with them Hermione, wouldn’t you agree?”

Hermione knew Claudia was trying to be friendly and include her in the conversation but she couldn’t help feeling taken aback by the question. She could see where the girls were coming from with James and Sirius. Sirius was devilishly handsome and had rugged charm while James was fit and athletic from Quidditch and his messy hair drove some girls nuts. She had noticed a handful of girls admiring the pair of them down at the lake and it came as no surprise to her, but Remus? She had never put much thought into it.

“Really, Remus?” asked Mary, looking puzzled and saving Hermione from the embarrassment of having to answer. “Not that he’s bad looking, and he’s the sweetest, but the best looking out of the three of them?”

Claudia blushed and tried to hide a smile. “Oh I don’t know. He just seems so strong and he has these big, kind green eyes that look like a puppy’s. And he does that weird thing with his smile that is kind of adorable.”

The more Claudia spoke the more Hermione could see where she was coming from. Claudia was right, Remus was pretty strong, he had pulled her out of the trick step like she weighed nothing and didn’t even seem strained. True, he wasn’t traditionally handsome like James or Sirius but he definitely had his charms, like the crooked smile he does when he tries not to laugh or the way his eyes would light up when he spoke about something he loves. The combo of his sandy blonde hair and the green eyes was slightly striking too and made him stand out from his dark haired best friends. Unlike James and Sirius, Remus must have been completely oblivious to his subtle handsomeness, and especially oblivious that girls like Claudia, who clearly liked him, thought he was better looking than his friends. Hermione grinned as she imagined what his expression would be like if she told him what Claudia had said, she imagined he would be completely shocked and flustered. Hermione began to think that poor Peter must feel very inadequate surrounded by his friends, but then she pushed that thought aside, Peter wasn’t getting any pity from her and also thinking about the Marauders as good looking was making her very uncomfortable.

“I’ve returned with the drinks!” said Michelle from behind Hermione, cutting the conversation short. She placed a large tray of seven butterbeers down at the center of the table and all the girls made a grab for one as Michelle sat back down between Alexa and Doris. “There’s a really long line at the counter, it’s as if the entire student body is in this pub right now. Please tell me you aren’t all still talking about boys.”

“Guilty,” grinned Alexa.

Michelle shook her head but was smiling. “You’re probably making Hermione think that all we ever talk about is boys,” she said shaking her head. She looked at Hermione, “which is not true, by the way, we usually have much less trivial conversations.”

“It’s true,” agreed Lily.

“Boys are not trivial,” defended Doris, crossing her arms. “I just really like boys…”

The rest of the girls laughed at this and Doris cracked a smile.

“It just started by explaining why Sarah wasn’t ‘ere, but we can definitely talk ‘bout somethin’ else,” said Joana.

“How are you adjusting to Hogwarts, Hermione? Do you like it here so far?” asked Michelle, trying to change the subject away from boys, which Hermione greatly appreciated.

“Oh it’s great, I really like the classes and the people I’ve met,” said Hermione, grinning.

Michelle was true to her word and the topic of boys never came back up throughout their lunch. Hermione was grateful for Michelle because she had never been good at talking about boys or her feelings towards them, except sometimes with Ginny. It was one of the reasons she had never really gotten along with Pavarti and Lavender during her time, they always spoke about boys, Lavender especially. During her last year during her time, Lavender seemed quite persistent in questioning Hermione about whether or not she was involved with Ron. Even though she did have growing feelings for Ron it really wasn’t any of Lavender’s business. She wondered why Lavender even cared so much about whether or not she and Ron had a thing.

The rest of her time in The Three Broomsticks was nice as Hermione settled into the group of Hufflepuff girls. They truly were an interesting group, and it was fascinating to see how different they all were from one another. Michelle and Claudia seemed shier than the other three but were always welcoming and trying to get Hermione involved in the conversation. Alexa and Joana liked to crack jokes and made it their mission to get all the girls at the table to laugh. And Doris was the loudest and had no qualms with saying whatever was on her mind, and as annoyingly entertaining it could be, Hermione believed Doris to at least be someone who she could trust, probably not with her gossip, but maybe with her life.

They spent a long time in the Three Broomsticks. By the time they finished talking and decided to leave, most of the pub had emptied and what was visible of the sun behind the clouds seemed much lower in the sky. The eight girls headed back into the quaint village and there was a crisp chill in the air that made Hermione pull James’s scarf tighter and she considered taking out her new scarf and putting that on as well, it was as if the November chill had come a day early.

The girls questioned Hermione on what she had seen already in the village and came to a conclusion that the boys had given her a pretty good tour, but should have brought her to the abandoned shack at the edge of the village. Hermione knew perfectly well why the boys had glossed over the shrieking shack. Their excuse was that it wasn’t very interesting but the girls seemed to think otherwise.

As they stopped at the fence that separated the town from the shack, Michelle walked up from behind Hermione and stood next to her.

“Apparently that shack is haunted,” said Michelle. “Some people are starting to call it the Shrieking Shack.”

“Is that so?” said Hermione, staring up at the abandoned building, but she could see Michelle nodding out of the corner of her eye.

“Over the past few years residents have heard screams coming from inside it, but the whole building is boarded up, there’s no way in or out,” said Michelle. “The Fat Friar told us that not even the ghosts venture in there because they’re frightened. Some sort of spirit or monster apparently lives in there.”

Hermione’s heart started to ache to think that the residents thought a monster lived there when in reality it was Remus who had to transform there every full moon, and the next full moon was in just a week. She was sure that Remus knew what the rumors were and she wished she could know what went through his mind when he heard them.

“It’s fitting that you’re seeing it today since it’s Halloween,” said Michelle, giving Hermione a smile and a small nudge. Hermione forced a smile back. “Come on, let’s head back to the castle for the feast. You’re in for a real treat!" 

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

The Great Hall was energetic with excitement from the post-Hogsmeade trip and also the incredible food that cluttered the four long tables. Each year Hermione swore the food was better than the last and enjoyed every bite that she took. She was also enjoying the company of her fellow Gryffindors around her.

In Hogsmeade Lily had agreed to join Hermione and the boys at the feast and she had brought Mary along with her as Remus requested. Sirius, James, Lily, and Peter were now sitting across from Hermione at the Gryffindor table while she was sandwiched between Remus and Mary. The dynamic of the group was completely different with all of them there and Hermione realized that today was the first day she had truly been happy since she landed in the past. A part of her felt like she really did belong.

Hermione smiled to herself as she glanced at her friends around the table. It was the first time that year that the entirety of the sixth year Gryffindors were eating dinner together. Not only were they eating together, but they were all actually getting along.

Maybe it had to do with the excitement and happiness that came from their visit into Hogsmeade or the delicious feast but James and Lily were happily chatting like old friends and Mary and Sirius weren’t actually bickering for a change. All it took was for Halloween to bring them all together.

_And tear them all apart_ , reminded a small voice in the back of Hermione’s head.

All of a sudden Hermione’s happiness ended just like that as she looked at the people she had gotten close to over the past two months. Her eyes fell on James and Lily and her breath caught as it dawned on her that in five years from that very moment the two of them would be killed. Her two friends that she had really grown to care for, dead, and nothing she could do about it. Five years from that very night…

Her attention switched to Sirius, who was still happily shoveling food into his mouth next to James. She looked at his bright, young, and handsome face but all she could see was the gaunt looking skeletal like man she had encountered after he had escaped from Azkaban when she was 14. Five years from today and he would walk into the ruins of the Potter’s house and see his friends dead, betrayed by another friend before getting blamed himself and spending 12 years imprisoned for it.

Yet another awful thought crossed her mind. Sirius had died the day she was sent to 1976. Had his death happened so suddenly that she had forgotten? Or had she pushed that horrid thought far into the back of her head? It had happened only moments before her life got turned upside down and she had never had time to mourn his death. The Sirius Black in her time was dead and now Harry had no family left. Tears were threatening to spill from her face as she torn her eyes away from Sirius feeling sick to her stomach.

And the betrayer, Peter, was looking young and innocent as he spoke to Mary from across the table. He was the cause of all of this. The Potter’s secret keeper and Voldemort’s spy. Without him, Lily, James, and Sirius would all be alive, Harry would have a happy loving family, and chances are she never would have been thrown into the past.

Turning to her right, Hermione looked at Mary. She had no knowledge of how Mary’s life turned out after all of this. How did she handle the death of James and Lily? Was she even still alive or was she another causality of the first war? Never had Mary ever been mentioned to Hermione in her time and Mary certainly wasn’t a member of the Order of the Phoenix. Mary had been a breath of fresh air for Hermione when she was overwhelmed by all of the people she knew when she got here. All Hermione could do was hope that her fate wasn’t even half as bad as the fates that Hermione knew about.

And then that left Remus. Oh poor Remus… A boy who never thought he would have a friends or a normal future due to his lycanthropy. Hermione turned to her left and looked at the boy with the sandy hair that as of yet did not have premature greys like it would in the future. He was one of her favorite people in this time period and it hurt so much to think of the life he would soon have. Five years from that moment and he’ll have lost four of his closest friends in the entire world and not know why until 12 years later. He’ll spend those 12 years blaming the wrong person while being shunned from the wizarding world for being something he had no control over. He was the last person she had seen before she got sent back twenty years and he had been so broken after witnessing the death of his last friend.

“Hermione…?”

The alarm in Remus’s voice brought Hermione back from her memory. She hadn’t even noticed when Remus had turned to look at her as she stared at him but his eyes were wide with concern. The others around her had gone silent and she could feel hot tears silently moving down her face.

“Hermione, you’re shaking…” said Remus in a soft voice.

Hermione looked down at her hands and they were indeed shaking. The rest of the group all stared at her with mixed expressions of shock and concern.

Hermione had never felt so helpless and small at the same time. Panic was rising up through her body, threatening to suffocate her. She felt ashamed at her emotions and quickly looked around before her eyes stopped at the staff table. To her surprise, Dumbledore was looking back at her. He stared down at her with an expression that was unreadable but also somewhat knowing.

“Hermione, what’s happened?” asked Remus again in a soft voice, causing Hermione to look back at him. He reached out and gently put his hand on Hermione’s shoulder and she involuntarily flinched at his touch. Pain was evident in his eyes as he pulled his hand away.

“I’m sorry,” breathed Hermione. “I-I have to go…”

Quickly, Hermione got up from the Gryffindor table and ran from the Great Hall, ignoring the glances and whispers that trailed behind her.

She was thinking fast as she entered the Grand Stair Case, but she had no idea where to go. Her first thought was to go to Dumbledore’s office but she couldn’t because he was still at the feast.

For an irrational moment Hermione considered using a secret passage to leave Hogwarts’ grounds to just get away but in her panic to escape none of the passages were coming to mind.

She couldn’t go back to the common room, she needed to be alone and they would obviously find her there. But then again they had the Marauder’s Map, they’d be able to find her wherever she went.

Except for one place.

Hermione took off up the stairwell, exhausting herself in the process. She only stopped to wait for the moving stairs, other than that she didn’t stop moving until she reached a large stone wall in a corridor on the seventh floor.

_I need a place to go to calm down. I need a place to go to be alone with my own thoughts._

A brilliant wooden door appeared before her and Hermione didn’t hesitate to rush forward and go into the Room of Requirements.

The room that appeared for her made her literally stop in her tracks as the great wooden door clicked shut behind her.

It was the most beautiful room she had ever seen. The Room of Requirements had created a room that represented anything Hermione could have ever asked for.

It was a decently sized room that was entirely lined with bookshelves. Where the walls were visible she could tell that it was paneled with a beautiful mahogany wood, and the wooden floor was barely to be seen beneath a large decorated scarlet and gold oriental rug at her feet. There was a soft light given from the torches around the room that made the room look as if it were glowing in amber light.

Numerous desks were scattered around the room leaving space in the center for squishy looking couches that faced a roaring warm fireplace that added to the beautifully lit room.

The room was as if she had mixed a library with the Gryffindor common room, two of her favorite and most comforting places.

Memorized, Hermione stepped farther in the room and the warmth of the fire immediately lessened her panic. She took a deep breath and inhaled the rich aroma of scented candles that she just noticed on the desks. The aromas of vanilla, apples, and cinnamon, greeted her senses and reminded her of home.

But that thought of home immediately resurfaced the memory of why she was here in the first place and she felt the tears begin to well up in her eyes again.

She crossed the room and sank into one of the couches by the fire and pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her face in them.

It wasn’t fair.

It wasn’t fair that these people she had grown to care for, people who were so kind and deserved the best out of life, would all wind up dead or alone. It wasn’t fair that she was stuck here in the past and there was nothing she could do to get back home, and yet there nothing she could do to save her friends now that she was here.

Hermione stayed in the room and cried for a while, not knowing what to do, but allowing herself to mourn her friends' premature deaths. She was so lost in her thoughts that she hadn’t realized she wasn’t alone anymore until she heard a soft cough from behind her.

Shocked that someone had managed to find her hiding spot, her head snapped up and she looked towards the door where Professor Dumbledore was standing, looking at her with a great sense of pity.

“Professor Dumbledore?” croaked Hermione, her voice sore from crying. She quickly tried to wipe the tears from her face but it was useless, he had obviously seen her crying.

He gave her a sad smile as he crossed further into the room until he stood before her in front of the fireplace. “That was quite the display in the Great Hall, Ms. Granger.”

Hermione involuntarily flinched at the sound of real name. The use of it sent more pain through her heart and reminded her of how she shouldn’t be here.

When she didn’t say anything Dumbledore continued. “I’m guessing that being here longer isn’t making it easier?”

“Not entirely, sir,” said Hermione as she stared back down at her knees and sniffled. “The happier I become here the harder it gets knowing there’s nothing I can do.”

It was Dumbledore’s turn to say nothing and Hermione looked back up at him, desperate for help. “Please, there must be some way for me to change the past. How damaged could the future become if I change something and saved people? I could make a difference!”

The expression that covered the old headmaster’s face answered that question for her. He looked deeply troubled and Hermione knew that she shouldn’t be implying the awful things that were to happen in the future but she had no one else to talk to about it and was craving for someone to understand.

“You’re a brilliant witch, Hermione. Do I even have to answer that for you?” asked Dumbledore sadly.

Hermione closed her eyes and shook her head. “I feel like I am to blame if I don’t prevent what could be made preventable.”

“How are you to blame for something that has happened even before you got here?” soothed Dumbledore. “Do not burden yourself with sufferings that are out of your control. You know what would happen if you change something, you and others could become unborn and could end up making the future a drastically worse place. Wizards are not meant to meddle with time. These things already happened before you were sent here, and whatever it was must still unfold.”

Hermione took a deep breath and nodded. “It’s just not fair,” she whispered and then gave a dark chuckled before wiping another tear from her eye.

Dumbledore smiled. “Ah, and that is the greatest misfortune of life, that it can be so remarkably unfair, even to the people who have done nothing wrong. But we as people are strong enough and wise enough to be able to move on from the unfairness of the world and find beauty elsewhere.”

She didn’t know why but his words did somehow make her feel better, but she still felt useless. “I’m guessing you’re going to suggest I stay here at Hogwarts if I requested to leave again.”

A twinkled appeared in his blue eyes and Dumbledore gave her an amused smile. “I believe you to be strong enough to handle it.”

“And if I’m not?”

“Then we’ll go from there,” said Dumbledore simply. “But you are wise enough to know that sometimes it is best to be alone with one’s thoughts than to risk making a situation worse by fighting through the pain and letting it fester. You rightly are a Gryffindor.”

It was that last statement that truly resonated with Hermione and cleared her head.

“I think I can do it,” said Hermione.

“I know you can,” said Dumbledore. “And remember, each passing day is one day closer to the day we figure out a way to send you home, because I will find a way for you to return.”

With that, he smiled and started to walk towards the door.

“Sir! Wait!”

Dumbledore stopped and turned back to face Hermione on the couch with a smile. “Yes, Ms. Granger?”

“How did you find me here?”

Another grin spread across his face, but this one was full of mystery. “There aren’t many things or places in this castle that I don’t know about; even if they aren’t marked on a map.”

With that last word he sent her the slightest of winks and then it hit her.

“Sir… you weren’t the one who altered… d-do you know about the…?”

But she didn’t bother finishing the sentence because the truth was written in Dumbledore’s eyes. At least that’s what she chose to believe because at that moment he gave her one last smile before turning around and walking out of the room, leaving a bewildered Hermione alone once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Part of this chapter is quoted from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, chapter 5: The Dementor.


	13. An Invitation

 

* * *

Chapter 13 - An Invitation

* * *

 

Sirius was in a particularly good mood lately. His birthday had come and gone with a great bang as the Marauder’s threw their usual birthday bash in the common room. This one was particularly great because not only did he finally turn of age, but the party had become so epic that Professor McGonagall had shown up close to midnight in her night clothes screaming that it was still a Wednesday night and that they needed to get to bed. He was still a little disappointed that Rosemerta never snuck him a firewhiskey on their trip to Hogsmeade but Remus pointed out that, as much as she liked him, Rosemerta cared more about her pub than making school boys happy. Moony probably had a point.

He had also woken up on his birthday to a package at the foot of his bed. When he had opened it he found a white box and its contents held a gold watch with a leather band. On the face of the watch were stars and it took a second for him to realize that the stars made up the constellation Canis Major, where the star he was named after was found. He had been truly touched by the gift and it meant even more to him once he figured out that it was the Potters that had sent it to him. After all, it was a tradition to give a wizard a watch when they turned seventeen. Fleamont and Euphemia Potter had been more parents to Sirius in the past few months than his had ever been and this gift proved it. Fondness for the Potters washed over him and Sirius immediately put the watch on.

His good mood continued increasing considerably when Gryffindor won their first Quidditch game of the season. Seeing Slytherin lose always did put him in a cheerful state. But it was strange at first to see his brother as the new Slytherin seeker, but the most surprising part was seeing that he was actually quite decent. Sirius had assumed Regulus had made the team due to his status, not actually from talent, but he had been wrong. Too bad for Regulus though since the combination of James’s scoring and Gryffindor catching the snitch, even though he had to admit that it had been very close, made the Lions the ultimate victors. Still, it was weird for Sirius to watch him play because he normally went out of his way to avoid seeing his brother, but there he was seeing him on the Quidditch pitch. Sirius still struggled at times to understand how he and Regulus could be brothers but be in entirely different worlds.

But the match itself was still a blast once he got over the initial shock that he was watching his younger brother play. Yet, he had been slightly bummed that Remus couldn’t make the game due to the full moon. Quidditch never was the same when it was just Peter and him cheering James on in the stands. Although now they did have Hermione, but she didn’t seem to particularly care much for the sport, nevertheless she still willingly came.

_“What on earth are you doing?” Sirius had yelled over the roaring crowd of the game when he spotted Hermione furiously taking notes in the stands. He couldn’t believe it, even when they were encouraged to have fun and watch Quidditch, Hermione was still doing bloody coursework!_

_She had given him a stern look over her notebook but her quill only slowed down slightly. “I’m writing down what’s happening for Remus so he can read it when he comes back! He had seemed so excited for the match!” she had yelled back over the crowd, which was cheering as James had scored another goal._

_Again, Sirius couldn’t believe it. She was at a Quidditch match taking notes! Then again, Remus probably would appreciate it seeing as he was down about not being able to support James during the match._

But other than that, Sirius had noticed that Remus did seem to be in higher spirits lately. He didn’t complain as much about his Prefect duties and was more willing to help out with their assignments. The Quidditch notes also put him in a good mood as he stayed in the infirmary after the full moon, which was nice to see since he was usually full of guilt after a transformation.

Remus had had a pretty decent transformation that month, well, as decent as they can go. That’s to say he didn’t end up tearing open his shoulder like he had done last time, only minor cuts and bruises. The poor bloke was probably getting used to it. A sick part of Sirius did enjoy using Remus’s transformation as an excuse to become a dog. So the easier the full moon was on Remus the more fun Sirius usually had, even if he did feel guilty about that. But Remus was even in high spirits as he returned from the Hospital Wing just to immediately disappear again to go over what he missed with Hermione like last time. No one should be as happy as the two of them were when it came to homework and class notes.

November was now more than halfway over and Sirius was lounging back in a chair in the corner of the common room. All the seats by the fireplace had already been taken but Sirius didn’t mind, he liked this table due to it being next to one of the large windows showing the clear night sky. Peter sat beside him while they lazily gave orders to his Wizard’s Chess board. James was at a late Quidditch practice and Remus was off in the library doing Ancient Runes homework with Hermione. So that left Sirius and Peter to hang out together. Sirius had decided that his Charms essay could easily wait until Hermione and Remus returned.

“Knight to A4,” said Sirius, staring intently at the board.

His black knight slowly slid from C3 over to where one of Peter’s white rooks stood. He watched with satisfaction as his Knight pulled out its sword and struck the rook through its center, destroying it.

“Come on, Wormtail, you can do better!” said Sirius with a smirk.

But Peter seemed unfazed and smiled right back at Sirius. “Alright, Padfoot. Bishop to A4.”

The smile was wiped right off of Sirius’s face as he watched Peter’s rook go from in front of his king to crossing the board and destroying his last knight.

“Well, damn. That was well played Pettigrew,” said Sirius who was impressed.

Peter grinned and collected the pieces of Sirius’s destroyed knight from the board. “Actually Padfoot, do you think we could talk for a minute?

“Can’t it wait until after this game?” asked Sirius as he pondered his next move. “Or are you scared that I’m going to win?”

“No it can’t actually,” said Peter seriously. “I want to talk you before the others come back.”

Raising an eyebrow at his friend, Sirius sat up straighter in his chair. Peter wasn’t usually one to be so serious, and it was even stranger that he chose a time when Moony and Prongs were gone. “What’s the matter, Wormtail?”

Peter hesitated for a moment and Sirius could see how nervous he was. “How do you feel about Hermione?”

That was probably the last thing Sirius had expected Peter to say. How did he about Hermione? What was he on about?

“Blimey, mate, I thought you were going to say you were dying!” laughed Sirius, feeling a sense of relief.

“No, but really,” said Peter with wide eyes and Sirius stopped laughed.

“I don’t know, Peter,” said Sirius feeling confused at the conversation. “If you’re asking if I’d date her the answer would be no. She’s not much of a looker but she’s nice to be around.”

Peter frowned. “That’s not what I meant…”

“Ah, do _you_ like her then?” grinned Sirius giving Peter a thumbs up.

“Merlin, no! I don’t mean how you feel about her like that!” said Peter looking horrified.

“Then what _do_ you mean?” said Sirius, not really following.

“I dunno, I just keep going back to what James had said during our first week,” said Peter. “And then she acts all strange now and then.”

Peter did have a point. Sirius was pretty sure that Hermione had some sort of secret, but if she wasn’t willing to share it with them that wasn’t any of his business. It was probably family drama, which Sirius knew all too well about. Overall she seemed like a relatively private person. She never spoke about her past unless she was directly asked, and even then she’d simply give minor details. Sirius could only remember her talking about her old friends or even her family on rare occasions, and she always seemed to be in pain when she did.

Even if she did have a secret how bad could it be? It was probably something personal and they were in no position to judge her, especially since they were all keeping a secret much bigger than whatever Hermione’s could have been. In the end, Sirius trusted her. Sometimes he thought it would be easier to tell Hermione about Remus and his furry little problem, but he obviously knew that it was Remus’s secret to share. He doubted that Remus would ever tell her, especially since he hadn’t even told them, they had found out. It was even worse now that Remus was slightly more on edge about people finding out after the incident with Snape last year. Sirius could feel the guilt from the memory curl back through his stomach.

“Aw come off it, Peter. Prongs was just being a prat and Hermione gave him what was coming to him,” said Sirius with a grin. “Don’t let that one instance where James was suspicious make you scared, look at him now, he’s completely fine with her!”

“I just get nervous when she’s around,” said Peter with a frown.

Sirius didn’t understand why Peter could be nervous around Hermione. Sure should could probably hex the hell out of all of them but he doubted it would ever come to that, unless he _really_ annoyed her. Honestly Sirius liked having Hermione around, and not just because she helped with homework assignments or took over taking Remus’s notes in class. Something about her seemed to fit in, like she had known them a lot longer than she had. It was almost scary how comfortable he felt around her and he knew James and Remus felt it too. Hell, he and Hermione would bicker like old friends, she was so fun to mess with. Sometimes he had to remind himself that he’s only known her two and a half months and to be careful about what he said around her so he didn’t let any of their secrets slip.

“I don’t know, mate,” said Sirius shaking his head. “She seems like a decent person so me, and I grew up around loads of bad people and I just don’t get that vibe from her.”

There was a pause and Peter nodded to himself and Sirius saw him struggling with wanting to agree with him.

“Halloween was just weird,” said Peter and Sirius had to agree.

Everything had been going fine. Hogsmeade had been loads of fun and nothing bad had happened. They were all enjoying the food at the feast and getting along when all of a sudden Sirius looked up and Hermione was paler than a ghost. It was if she had gone as stiff as a board and her brown eyes had gotten huge. Tears had started streaming down her face as she just stared at all of them before running out of the Great Hall.

When they got back to the common room and she wasn’t there Remus had insisted that they check the map and look for her but James had managed to change Remus’s mind by telling him that whatever it was, Hermione probably just needed her space. It was clear that Remus was slightly put off by this at first but he soon came around and agreed to give her some space, so the boys left the map in James’s trunk that night.

The next day Hermione’s excuse had been a lame one to Sirius. As someone who spent the past five years lying to his parents and also making up excuses for Remus’s disappearances, Sirius had gotten pretty good at knowing when someone wasn’t being entirely truthful. She had claimed that she had realized she had forgotten an important anniversary for her friend and got emotional out of guilt. That she had run out of the Great Hall to go send an immediate owl to her friend Henry before the day was over. When the four of them had seen Mary and Lily later that day they both claimed Hermione was fine when she had gotten back to the dormitory the night of Halloween so they believed her story. James and Remus were quick to believe her as well and Sirius wasn’t about to get suspicious over what was probably nothing. She seemed fine, everything had gone back to normal. But apparently Peter wasn’t buying it.

“I just don’t understand her. She gets in those moods and then just disappears and becomes distant. Remus was right, we should have looked for her on the map the night of Halloween,” said Peter. Suddenly, his eyes lit up with excitement. “We should figure out what she’s up to. An adventure for just the four of us, like the good old days!”

Sirius on the other hand, was willing to give Hermione the benefit of the doubt. Sure, maybe she did have to send a letter or maybe she did have a secret, but one thing Sirius knew was that he didn’t believe Hermione to be a danger for them and that they should keep an eye on her. And this was Sirius… he loved adventure!

“I see why you’re concerned but she hasn’t given us any reason not to trust her, Wormtail. James said it perfectly that night, we can’t just invade her privacy like that. She’s our friend,” said Sirius calmly. Although he disagreed with Peter, he didn’t want it to seem like he was choosing Hermione over him – because he wasn’t. It would always be the Marauders over everyone else. They were his friends for life, but that didn’t mean Hermione couldn’t be their friend as well.

“She doesn’t seem like she wants to be my friend,” said Peter bitterly.

A wave of sympathy rushed over Sirius as he looked at his friend, who was now crossing his arms and looking back down at the chess board. There were definitely times when Sirius suspected Hermione had less than friendly feelings towards Peter but he didn’t understand why. Peter probably didn’t think Hermione was dangerous or hiding anything, if anything he seemed jealous that the rest of his friends hung out with her when he didn’t necessarily get along with her. And he had just said he wanted to go on an adventure like the good old days with just the four of them. He was feeling left out.

“Yeah, you don’t seem to have the best relationship,” agreed Sirius. “Maybe you need to try harder. The only reasons she even started talking to us was because me, James, and Remus put ourselves out there. Hell, we were pretty annoying to be honest! You just need to show her the side of Peter Pettigrew that we all know and love.”

Peter seemed to perk up at that and he even smiled again. “You think so?”

“Yeah, why not? It’s worth a shot isn’t it?” grinned Sirius.

“Alright…” said Peter, not sounding entirely convinced.

“Look, Peter,” said Sirius leaning towards him and grinning. “She might be our friend but you’re one of us! A Marauder! It will always be Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. To the very end.”

“You really mean that?” asked Peter with a smile.

“Absolutely,” said Sirius, and he did mean it. He meant every word. “Now let me finish whooping you in Wizard’s Chess.”

“Deal,” grinned Peter.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

“You know, when I read the first few ingredients for this potion I assumed it would smell nicer,” said Hermione as she pinched her nose with one hand while using the other to stir the cauldron at her, Lily, and Mary’s potions station.

They were in their second half of double potions and to her surprise she was having fun. The longer she was in the 70s, the more she realized that she didn’t dislike potions lessons nearly as much during this time as she did her own, she actually enjoyed it. Professor Slughorn encouraged people to work together so there was a very lively atmosphere in the room and instead of putting his students down he would praise people who did well. The praise caused Hermione to thrive in class and do better in potions than she had ever done before.

“Boom berry juice, honeywater, and mint definitely were misleading ingredients,” agreed Mary with a grimace as she measured out Horklunk juice into a pint. “Maybe they should have listed sloth brain mucus or billywig sting slime first so my hopes wouldn’t have been so high.”

Hermione gave a short laugh before quickly closing her mouth so she didn’t inhale the smell.

“It sure doesn’t smell very pleasant at all,” said Lily. She crinkled her nose as she added the crushed chizpurfle fangs to the boiling cauldron in front of them.

“That would probably be the stewed mandrake,” said Mary pointing to the soggy wet lump of a plant at their workstation. “I was so excited to learn the Wiggenweld potion too. I’ve wanted to make it since I was a child.”

“Why since you were a child?” asked Hermione as she reread the directions for the potion in her copy of _Advanced Potion-Making_ to make sure everything was perfect _._ “Did you know someone who had drunken the Draught of Living Death and needed a Wiggenweld potion to wake them up?

“No, silly. Because of the story of the prince who woke the sleeping princess with it,” laughed Mary. “It was one of my favorite stories growing up.”

“I don’t know that one,” said Lily as she began to prepare the stewed mandrake with the honeywater.

“Really?” said Mary with wide eyes.

“Neither do I,” said Hermione, slightly bothered by the fact that she didn’t know the tale. “Lily and I didn’t grow up with magical children’s stories.”

“Sometimes I forget that the both of you were raised by muggles…” said Mary, shaking her head slightly. “It’s about an old hag named Leticia Somnolens who was jealous of a king’s daughter. So one day she tricked the girl into pricking her finger on a spindle that had been laced with the Draught of Living Death, which obviously sent her into a deep sleep. But then the prince shows up, puts the Wiggenweld potion on his lips, and kisses the princess awake! It’s all very romantic.”

Hermione saw Lily snickering to herself as Mary waited for their reaction to the story.

“So… Sleeping Beauty?” said Lily with a grin and Hermione laughed.

“What’s a sleeping beauty?” asked Mary looking puzzled.

“Oh nothing,” grinned Lily and Mary shrugged.

“I don’t know anyone who would want to put this on their lips, let alone kiss anyone with it!” said Hermione, adding more ingredients. “It smells absolutely foul and not at all romantic.”

Across the room there was commotion and Hermione looked over just in time to see a sloth brain speeding through the air. It struck Mulciber in the back of the head with a sickening squishing sound before dropping to the dungeon floor with a plop. The room erupted into laughter and Mulciber turned around, his eyes like daggers, as he, Avery, and Snape looked for the culprit.

It didn’t take long for Mulciber to find out who had thrown it. Sirius was sitting two tables behind him with James and was in a fit of laughter.

“Mister Black!” said Slughorn as he rushed over to Sirius and James’s table looking aghast. “How do you expect to finish your Wiggenweld potion when your sloth brain is over at Mister Mulciber’s table?”

Sirius flashed an innocent grin. “I got all the mucus I needed from it, sir. I thought I’d help my fellow classmates out since my sloth brain seemed extra mucusy today. You know, spread the wealth.”

James was grinning into his fist and looking down at the table, trying not to laugh. At the table next to them Remus and Peter were snickering silently while trying to work on their own potion.

Slughorn sighed and rubbed his temples. “You know what I’m about to say, Mister Black…”

“Yeah yeah,” said Sirius. Hermione could see him grinning. “I’ll meet you at our usual time for my detention tonight.”

“Right,” sighed Slughorn, clearly not pleased that he had to hold a detention. He turned to face the three Slytherin boys. “Mister Mulciber, you may want to clean yourself up, you’re going to smell downright awful!”

Mulciber’s eyes flashed and he glared at Sirius again as Slughorn walked away. He mouthed _I’ll get you for that_ before walking to the sinks in the back of the stone room. Hermione started to get nervous for Sirius but he didn’t seem bothered. He had turned to James and began to mimic Mulciber’s threat as soon as he couldn’t see them.

Hermione caught James’s eye from across the room and he held his palms up as if he were saying “what can you do?” causing her to try to hide her own smirk.

As Hermione was about to look back down at her potion she caught someone else’s eye. Peter was staring directly at her but there was something weird going on with his face… Was he _smiling_ at her? Even stranger yet, he gave her a friendly wave and Hermione mechanically waved in return, taken aback at the unusual encounter. Peter and Hermione didn’t openly dislike each other… but neither were they particularly friendly to one another either. He had acted strange since her outburst at Halloween and she couldn’t blame him, but maybe he had finally bought her story like the others had done so easily. She gave her head a little shake and brought her attention back to her potion.

The Wiggenweld potion wasn’t a particularly difficult potion but there were so many steps and ingredients that had to be accounted for which made it easy to make an error. Mary and Lily spent most of the time gathering what they needed while Hermione was carefully following the instructions so she brewed it perfectly. By the time Hermione had finished the potion the smell wasn’t nearly as awful as it was when they started. It still didn’t smell good, but now it almost smelled like nothing which the three girls greatly preferred.

Hermione was quite proud of the green potion that sat in front of them as Slughorn made his rounds around the room. When he approached Lily, Hermione, and Mary’s station he broke into a grin.

“Well done, ladies! I’m sure this Wiggenweld potion would wake someone even in the deepest of sleeps!” beamed Slughorn. He looked at Lily. “Lily, this is easily the best potion of the class, as always, you have beaten my expectations.”

“Oh, I can’t take credit for it this time, Professor,” said Lily with a smile. “Hermione did most of the brewing.”

Mary nodded in agreement and Professor Slughorn looked shocked before turning towards Hermione.

“Excellent Miss Dawson! I think that deserves Gryffindor five points,” said Slughorn, grinning beneath his great walrus-like mustache. “There must have been a fine instructor over at Beauxbatons!”

As he complimented her, Hermione could feel her face flush with pride. “Thank you very much, sir.”

“You are very welcome,” said Slughorn. “I am very impressed, you seem to have what it takes to truly be a masterful potion brewer. The three of you ladies make a wonderful team!”

When class ended Hermione hung back as Lily and Mary left so she could talk to the Marauders who were still packing up. Most of the class had already gone except Mulciber, Avery, and Snape who were busy cleaning up the sloth brain that Sirius had thrown at them.

“Nice job with the potion, Hermione,” said James as Hermione approached his station. He was grinning as he stuck his copy of _Advanced Potion-Making_ into his bag. “You always do manage to get us more points.”

Hermione smiled at the compliment. “Well someone has to make up the points that this one loses.”

She pointed at Sirius and he grinned at her as he finished up wiping down his work station.

“If you didn’t notice, I didn’t actually lose us any points today,” said Sirius cheekily, grabbing his books.

Hermione rolled her eyes and snorted. “Oh but landing yourself in your third detention this week is any better? I don’t know how you do it.”

A shape walked up from behind Hermione and rested their hand on her shoulder. She turned to see a grinning Remus leaning slightly diagonally due the weight of his schoolbag. Peter was trailing behind him.

Hermione grinned up at Remus as he leaned on her.

“It takes a certain talent to get in that much trouble,” said Remus with a nod.

“And you lot will never know how exhausting it is to put so much effort into the art of troublemaking,” said Sirius. “Now let’s get out of here, it still smells like feet.”

The five of them exited the potions classroom and entered the long, dark, and stone dungeon corridor. As they were walking towards the staircase to take them out of the dungeon Hermione caught Peter’s eye again and he sent her another smile. The smile made Hermione want to curse him but she knew better. So he wanted to be friends now? Hermione forced a smile on her lips to humor him before increasing her pace so she was walking beside Remus and could no longer see Peter.

They hadn’t even gotten halfway down the cold corridor when Hermione heard a door slam behind them. It was loud and echoed through the windowless stone hallway and caused Hermione’s head to snap backwards.

“BLACK!” yelled Mulciber who was rushing towards them, looking absolutely furious. Snape and Avery were on his tail but further back.

Everything happened so fast. Mulciber whipped out his wand and waved it. There was a flash of light and Sirius let out a startled yelp as he fell hard to the cold stone floor. It was as if an invisible rope had been tied to his feet and then yanked.

Peter went to grab Sirius while James and Remus immediately pulled their wands out to defend their fallen best friend… but Hermione was quicker.

“ _Obscuro!”_ she yelled as she pointed her wand directly at Mulciber. She hadn’t known why that was the first spell that popped into her head but it seemed to be effective.

A thick dark blindfold appeared and began to wrap itself around Mulciber’s head, covering his eyes and leaving him blinded. Hermione saw Sirius clambered back to his feet and watched in shock as Mulciber lost his balance and fell over.

Hermione made a move towards the staircase, hoping the others would follow but changed her mind as she saw Mulciber get back to his feet. It didn’t take long for him to rip off the blindfold and change his aim directly to her.

Rage boiled through Hermione as she thought back to the story of Mulciber cursing and almost killing Mary during her previous year. Mulciber was known for dark curses and she wasn’t going to let that happen to her or any of her friends.

Mulciber was probably a fair dueler but after a year of being in Dumbledore’s Army, Hermione’s reaction time was faster so she had the upper hand. She thought back to the lessons Harry had taught and remembered the perfect jinx that he had taught them.

Before Mulciber even opened his mouth, or any of the Marauders could react, Hermione shouted, “ _Impedimenta!”_

A turquoise beam of light shot from her wand and struck Mulciber in his chest. Hermione hadn’t meant for the spell to be as strong as it was and Mulciber’s body froze and he was thrown backwards through the air. He had been thrown so hard that once he hit the stone floor he slid a few meters before coming to a stop in front of the entrance to the potion’s classroom.

Snape and Avery now had their wands out and were rushing towards them. Thinking that maybe she should have just blocked Mulciber, fear took over Hermione’s rage as she noticed that the Marauders all had their wands out too. A fight seemed inevitable.

But at that moment the door to the potion’s classroom opened up and Professor Slughorn stepped out into the corridor looking alarmed. Hermione had never seen people drop their wands to their sides so quickly.

“My word! What in Merlin’s name is going on out here?” said Slughorn sounding astonished.

Avery apparently saw this as the perfect time to run. He darted in the other direction, past Slughorn and Mulciber, with Snape quickly followed suit, as they ran farther into the dungeons, most likely headed towards the Slytherin common room.

Mulciber, who was still on the ground recovering from the jinx, laid his eyes directly on Hermione and pointed in her direction.

Almost immediately, the Marauders jumped to Hermione’s defense, and to Hermione’s surprise that included Peter. It was chaos as they all spoke at once, but Hermione stayed silent.

“It wasn’t Hermione’s fault!” said James.

“This was all Mulciber’s doing,” said Remus.

“Mulciber attacked me when my back was turned!” said Sirius.

“He was going to attack him again,” said Peter.

“But Hermione stopped him!” said James.

“He was going to attack Hermione…” said Remus.

“Do you seriously believe Hermione Dawson would just attack someone without a reason?” said Sirius.

“Honestly Professor, it was in self-defense,” said Remus.

“You have to believe us!” said James.

Slughorn held up his hand. “Really, now! There’s no need for all this ruckus.”

The boys quieted down as Slughorn turned to Mulciber who had been wearing a smug look but quickly began to feign injury.

“Mister Mulciber, why don’t you head to the infirmary and have Madam Pomfrey patch you up,” said Slughorn.

Mulciber slowly got to his feet and began to walk down the long corridor. When he got close to them he sent Hermione and the boys another smug smirk before walking right in between their group to get past them.

“Miss Dawson, can you come into my office please?” said Slughorn.

Hermione turned to look at the boys and they all wore worried looks on their faces. “It’s fine, I’ll meet you in the common room after,” said Hermione with a weary smile.

“Are you sure you don’t want us to wait?” asked Remus. “We can explain to Professor Slughorn what happened…”

She shook her head. “Thanks Remus, but I’ll be fine. I don’t know how long this will take.”

“If you’re sure…” said Remus, not looking convinced.

Taking a deep breath, Hermione turned her back on her friends and began to walk back down the corridor towards Professor Slughorn. The walk felt like a thousand years and dreadful thoughts popped into Hermione’s head.

_What if I end up in detention for the rest of the year? What if he tries to write my parents but there’s none to write to? What if they_ expel _me for fighting?_

A lump formed in her throat at that last thought and she felt a chill tingle down her spine. If she were expelled where would she go? It would ruin everything, she’d have to go into isolation until Dumbledore found a way to send her back to her own time. Maybe he’d let her stay in the Room of Requirements… She had gone back to the room she had created a few times since Halloween to either be alone with her thoughts or have a quiet place to study when the Marauders got too bothersome. It probably wouldn’t be so horrible having to live there, especially since it would always accommodate her needs, except for food.

She took another deep breath as she followed Slughorn to a door adjacent to the potions room. Inside was a small, cramped, and windowless office. It resembled a rather large broom cupboard, but a cupboard nonetheless. Slughorn’s desk lay squished between shelves of books, potion instruments, and ingredients. Once inside, Slughorn closed the door behind her and wobbled to his chair.

“Take a seat, Miss Dawson,” said Slughorn. Hermione swore she saw a twinkle in his eye as he said this.

Silently, Hermione sat in the old armchair that was opposite Slughorn and folded her hands in her lap. She didn’t know where to look so she settled on his desk. A serpent hourglass caught her eye and quickly drew in her attention. It was peculiar, there was sand in both the top and bottom glass vessel but none of it was passing through.

“Ah, where to even begin!” mused Slughorn, stroking his great mustache.

At Slughorn’s words, Hermione’s attention was taken away from the hourglass and she focused on her short and bald professor. She took a third and final deep breath. “Look Professor, I am so sorry about what happened with Mulciber. My actions were completely unacceptable—”

“Sorry?” said Slughorn cutting her off, and to Hermione’s confusion he began to laugh. “What on earth do you have to be sorry for?”

Hermione blinked. “I-I’m not sure I’m following, sir…”

She noticed a slight movement from his desk and looked back at the hourglass. The sand had started to move.

“I saw the whole thing from the peephole in the door, Miss Dawson. That was some deeply remarkable wand work!” said Slughorn, drawing her attention back to him. “I have to say, this is now the second time I’ve been impressed with your skills today.”

Hermione was at a loss for words. He was… praising her for attacking another student? And one who was in his house as well! Was this all a joke?

“I’ve also come to hear that you’re at the top of your other classes as well,” said Slughorn with a grin.

“Am I in trouble, sir?” asked Hermione. She was deeply confused at why he was complimenting her instead of calling McGonagall or Dumbledore to have her expelled.

“In trouble? Of course not!” said Slughorn with another laugh. “If anything I say you should be rewarded for such savvy spellcasting while protecting yourself and classmates.”

“Um… thank you, sir?” blinked Hermione. She didn’t want to say anything else and push her luck.

Slughorn sat up straighter in his chair before leaning on his desk and getting closer to Hermione. “Say… how would you feel about coming to my club next week?”

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

“You have to go!” beamed Lily. “We can go to the next one together!”

Hermione was back in the Gryffindor common room. It was nearing dinner time so it was mostly empty which had allowed the Marauder’s, Lily, and Mary to secure seats on the couch and armchairs by the roaring fire.

Apparently as soon as Hermione had gone into Slughorn’s office the boys had rushed up to Gryffindor tower to tell Lily and Mary what had happened. The six of them had taken it upon themselves to wait for her to return to the common room to hear the verdict.

“The Slug Club is lame,” said Sirius and Lily sent him a nasty look. “What? It’s true!”

“Says someone who’s never been,” she retorted.

“Hey, I’ve been invited to go,” said Sirius defensively. “I’ve just chosen not to.”

“Really, Sirius?” asked Hermione, slightly impressed. From what she had heard so far was that Slughorn only asked the best of the best to be a member of what he called “The Slug Club.”

“Oh yes, there was something about my last name being Black and having a long historical family background that intrigued him,” said Sirius, rolling his eyes. “But I kept ignoring his invitations and once my brother arrived he stopped sending them to me and started sending them to him.”

“Slughorn asked me to go too,” said James with a smirk.

Now it was Lily’s turn to be surprised. “Did he really? Why haven’t you gone?”

James shrugged. “I actually went to the first meeting during our first year but it was downright boring so I never went back.”

Lily raised an eyebrow. “You were invited straight away? I didn’t get asked to join until the end of second year.”

“He invited me because he knew my father invented the Sleekeazy's Hair Potion,” said James casually. “I bet he thought I would inherit my father’s potion making skills but he must have been very disappointed at how unbelievable average I am when it comes to potions.”

Hermione’s jaw dropped. “Your father is the one who invented Sleekeazy's Hair Potion?” asked Hermione in astonishment. She thought back to how she managed to make her hair so straight and lovely for the Yule ball in her fourth year. “I’ve used that!”

James gave a humble grin. “That would be thanks to my dad.”

“You’d think the son of a man who created a potion to control unruly hair would at least have nice hair,” said Sirius with a snort. He reached over and messed James’s hair up even more that it already had been. “But nope, it always looks like a tornado hit his head.”

A laugh came from Remus next to her on the couch and Hermione grinned as well. Sirius certainly had a point.

“But getting back to the Slug Club,” said Lily, ignoring the boys. “You really should go. In the past, the people he’s chosen to be in his club have all gone on to do great things!”

“I still can’t believe you jinxed Mulciber,” said Mary, smiling and shaking her head, completely oblivious to the conversation that was already happening. “Brilliant.”

“You should have seen it, Mary,” said Peter, his eyes almost popping out of his head from thinking about the exciting memory. “He must have flown back twenty feet!”

“No way!”

“Where did you even learn to duel like that,” said James, looking intrigued.

“I was in a Defense club last year,” said Hermione simply, not wanting to go further into Dumbledore’s Army. Obviously she couldn’t tell him that his future son had taught her and many others in an illegal organization.

But James just accepted that and grinned. “Cool."

Lily didn’t seem to want the subject changed. “Pretty please, Hermione?” she said and she gave Hermione her sweetest smile.

“I don’t know, Lily…” said Hermione as she ignored the conversation about the altercation after class that Peter and Mary had started on the side. She didn’t really want to talk about the Mulciber incident because she felt bad, she shouldn’t have let her anger get the best of her like that. She needed to have better control if she had to stay here.

“I’d really rather not go alone,” said Lily. The smile fell from her face and her green eyes were pleading. “I blew off last month’s meeting because I didn’t want to have to face Severus alone… he goes, you know. It would mean a lot to me if you went. I really love the meetings, I’m sure you will too!”

Hermione scrunched up her face as she thought about it. What could be the harm of going?

“I think you should go, Hermione,” said Remus kindly. “It could be a great experience and Lily is right, lots of influential people started out in Slughorn’s club while at Hogwarts. If you don’t like it you don’t have to go back. But then again the decision is entirely up to you, don’t just go because I said that.”

He gave her a crooked smile and Hermione couldn’t help but trust his judgement agree with him

“Alright, I’ll go,” said Hermione to Lily with a smile.

“Yay!” squealed Lily and she clapped her hands together and beamed. “This will be so much fun!”

“Not to cut this celebration short,” said Sirius, who was looking down at his watch, “but we should probably head to dinner before it ends. I’m starved, and let’s not forget, I have a date with old Sluggy after dinner.”

“Alright let’s go,” said James and he stood up for the armchair he had been sitting in. He started to pat his stomach. “I really worked up an appetite watching Hermione absolutely destroy Mulciber earlier.”

There was scattered laughter and Hermione gave a weak smile. The group began to get up and starting making their way to the portrait hole.

As Hermione made her way to follow the rest, Remus stopped her and held her back.

“That was really cool what you did for Sirius,” said Remus. There was a slight twinkle in his eye as he smiled at her. “He really owes you now.”

“Sirius always owes me, especially since I constantly help him with assignments,” laughed Hermione. “I am surprised though that you aren’t telling me not to fight students, you are a prefect after all.”

She grinned up at him and he laughed. “I’ve never been the best at being a prefect in the past, why bother to start now?”

Hermione playfully hit his arm. “Oh stop it,” she said, rolling her eyes. “But you are right, Sirius definitely owes me.”

The portrait hole swung open and the head of Sirius appeared. “Come on you two, we’re starving here!”

His head disappeared again and Remus chuckled. “That’s our cue.”

Remus walked over to the entrance to the common room and crawled through the portrait. Hermione was right behind him, ready to go to dinner with her friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I forgot to mention this in the last chapter but I wanted to thank the people who pointed out a plot hole from earlier on in my story! I fixed it in the last chapter so now I hope there's no more holes. Don't forget to comment and thanks for reading! :)


	14. A Sluggy Party

* * *

Chapter 14 - A Sluggy Party

* * *

 

Hermione looked around the table feeling uncomfortable. She had agreed to go to Slughorn’s club with Lily and now they were in one of the unused classrooms in the dungeons, since Slughorn’s office was far too small to fit all of them. There were nine other students sitting around the circular wooden table that had been set up in the middle of the stone room, which was laid out with different dessert items. She sat between Lily and a quiet boy with glasses named Adrian who she recognized as one of the Ravenclaw boys in her year.

She wasn’t really bothered by the club and could see why Lily enjoyed it. Members from all the houses were there and most of the conversations were actually quiet friendly and nice. Although Slughorn did like asking about people’s families, as if trying to see who had the most impressive lineage, which is what the conversation had turned into. Hermione was quietly eating her chocolate ice cream and looking around awkwardly as she took in each student’s bragging as they tried to impress Slughorn the most, waiting for the inevitable moment that he’d get to her.

Michelle Pickett, who was sitting on the other side of Lily, saw Hermione’s bemused expression and chuckled quietly to herself, causing Hermione to grin. She had been pleased to find out that Michelle had also been invited to the club. It was nice to have another familiar and friendly face she could lean on for support at the club when she did not know most of the students there. Beside Michelle sat the only other Hufflepuff in the club, a fifth year, Dirk Cresswell, who Hermione remembered to have worked at the Ministry during her time with Mr. Weasley.

The rest of the table seemed to be split by house as well, whether it was on purpose or a coincidence but everyone was grouped together, even if everyone in the club did seem to get along. Across from Hermione was Snape, Regulus, and a seventh year Slytherin who was introduced as Evan Rosier, who Hermione knew to be the Death Eater who blasted off parts of Mad-Eye Moody’s nose and was later killed by him. Hermione had never seen him in her time, as he had died shortly after she was born, and she had expected to see someone who appeared “evil” but he seemed relatively normal looking, except for the shifty gleam in his eyes and sly smile that made her slightly uneasy. 

On the other side of Adrian were two other Ravenclaws, A fourth year that Hermione had never seen before named Theresa Belcher and a small looking third year named Wendy Slinkhard. The name rang a bell with Hermione but she couldn’t place it.

Slughorn was sitting between Wendy and Regulus across the table and was talking animatedly to Theresa while Wendy seemed to shrink in her chair as the two talked over the small girl.

“Now Theresa,” said Slughorn eagerly to the brunette Ravenclaw. “What exactly does your uncle plan to accomplish with this invention?”

The girl smiled slightly and sat up straighter in her chair. “Uncle Humphrey believes it will be very accomplished overall. He says it will revolutionize the food industry.”

Whether it was because they were talking about food, or maybe it was the fame and success that was being talked about, Slughorn had a hungry look in his eyes and he seemed to lean closer towards the Ravenclaw girl. Poor little Wendy Slinkhard seemed to get even smaller.

“Now this is intriguing. What is his major selling point?” asked Slughorn, his walrus mustache moving up and down with each word.

“Well people are always looking for new and creative ways to eat,” explained Theresa. “Take cauldron cakes for example. If that works why not Cheese Cauldrons? Uncle Humphrey believes they will really take off because people can just eat them or make soup in them and then eat them, saving cleanup time. And they come in all different types of cheeses!”

Hermione, on the other hand, thought this was a ridiculous idea. She had never heard of Cheese Cauldrons in her time so she assumed that Theresa’s uncle was not very successful.

“Fascinating!” exclaimed Slughorn, and Theresa looked pleased at this reaction.

“I can have him send you one if you’d like, Sir,” said Theresa with a smile.

“That would be wonderful, thank you, Theresa!” said Slughorn, and he took a swig out of his goblet. “Now! Let’s here from Miss Dawson!”

Hermione raised her eyebrow and waited for the question, having a good idea where this was going.

“Now no need to be shy my dear girl!” said Slughorn with a grin, misinterpreting Hermione’s silence. He looked around the table at the ten of them. “If you guys hadn’t known by now, Miss Hermione Dawson transferred here from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic at the start of term, but that’s not just why she’s here. I’ve invited her to our little club because she is not only very talented at potions but also a very skilled duelist!”

Hermione glanced towards the Slytherins sitting across from her and caught Snape and Rosier sneering at the comment while Regulus seemed uninterested.

Slughorn didn’t wait for a response before continuing. “I must say, I have also heard from the other professors that you are quite talented in all of your subjects! Beauxbatons must give a spectacular education!”

Lily nudged Hermione and beamed at her with pride gleaming in her eyes. Moved by this subtle gesture, Hermione smiled back before returning her gaze to Slughorn.

“Oh, well I did learn a lot from my professors,” said Hermione, still smiling and ignoring the looks from Snape and Rosier. “But I do feel like I’ve learned a lot here as well.”

“And modest!” chuckled Slughorn. “Was it hard adjusting to a new school? It must have been quite a shock coming here after spending five years at another school with a completely different culture!”

“It was surprisingly easier than I thought,” said Hermione truthfully.

Slughorn nodded as he took this in and stroked his mustache. “And your family is supportive of you coming here I take it?”

Hermione swallowed and tried to hide the sudden breath she had to take. And there it was. She had a feeling he would bring them up but she didn’t realize how much she didn’t want to talk about her family, especially to a room of strangers.

“They were very excited for me to attend Hogwarts. Once they were informed of its great status they were thrilled,” said Hermione, again telling the truth but trying to stay vague.

Hermione went into the made-up story she had told her fellow Gryffindors, about how she had ended up at Beauxbatons and why she transferred to Hogwarts due to her family moving while trying to run their own dentistry office.

“Ah yes!” said Slughorn, looking impressed. “It is even more remarkable that you are muggle-born!”

Most people at the table did not seem to be surprised by this announcement but she got two pairs of eyes staring at her; a piercing glare from Rosier and a curious glance from Dirk Cresswell.

“And what exactly are ‘dentists’ in the muggle-world?” asked Slughorn with great curiosity. “Is it a dangerous profession?”

Hermione was taken aback by the question and had to stifle a laugh. “Oh, not quite. No, I wouldn’t say it’s dangerous. They tend to people’s teeth to make sure they are clean and healthy.”

A snort came from across the table and Rosier quickly tried to cover it up by coughing. Slughorn did not miss it though.

“Mister Rosier, I have asked you to leave before and I am not against doing it again,” sighed Slughorn. Hermione was actually surprised that he stood up for her against a member of his own house.

Rosier slumped down in his chair and pursed his lips. “Yes , Sir,” he mumbled before giving an annoyed look towards Snape.

“Especially so close to our Christmas party!” added in Slughorn, whose tone had turned very enthusiastic.

The mood in the room all of a sudden changed and the other students soon began to talk to one another excitedly while Hermione looked back at Slughorn for an explanation.

“Ah! Of course you don’t know yet, Hermione, but every year I host a Christmas party for my best students and their dates,” said Slughorn. “It’s a wonderful chance for everyone to dress to impress, and also impress because some of my alumni like to come as well.”

“Oh, it sounds fun, Sir,” said Hermione with a smile, not sure if she believed her own words.

“Very fun indeed!” beamed Slughorn. “You will be getting an owl soon with the details.”

The clock on the wall behind him chimed and he looked around. “Goodness… is that the time already? I guess we’ll end our meeting here for today. I shall see you all soon!”

The room was soon filled with the sound of scrapping chairs as the eleven on them began to stand up and gather their things. Soon, Hermione was following Lily and Michelle out of the room and into the cool dungeons.

“You’ll have a blast at the party, Hermione,” said Michelle as they walked. Beside her Lily nodded in agreement. “It really is nice to have an excuse to dress up and just have fun.”

“And,” added Lily. “Like Slughorn said, he really does invite alumni, and some of them are really great connections to have.”

The two girls took turns telling Hermione their favorite parts of the Christmas party as they continued to walk. The sound of feet quickly hitting the stone floor behind her made Hermione turn as she saw Dirk Cresswell running towards them.

“Hey, Michelle, wait up!” he called, waving his arm slightly.

The three girls stopped and waited for the fifth year Hufflepuff to reach them. When he got close he slowed his pace, his breath quick, but he grinned when he got to them.

“Sorry, Dirk,” said Michelle with an apologetic smile. “I got so caught up telling Hermione about the party that I completely forgot to wait for you.”

Dirk shrugged and grinned again. “It happens.” He turned his attention to Hermione and he stuck his hand out and Hermione shook it. “It’s nice to meet you Hermione, it’s always good to know other muggle-born students that I can talk to about things happening outside of magic and Hogwarts.”

Hermione raised her eyebrows, not entirely knowing what to say about that. “Oh, well it’s nice to meet you too.”

“Ah look, the three mudblood slug clubbers and a blood traitor,” said a voice, and Hermione saw Rosier and Snape approaching, with Regulus trailing behind them.

Dirk’s smile fell from his face. “That’s a cruel thing to say, Evan.”

Rosier ignored him. “It’s just what that abhorrent club needed, more filth. As if I was looking for more reasons to not go anymore. Wouldn’t you agree, lads?”

Snape muttered his agreement and Regulus gave a stiff nod of his head, looking as if he wanted to be anywhere other than there. Hermione caught Lily staring at Snape looking hurt, there was almost a pleading look in her eyes as he refused to look at her.

“No one is making you go,” said Michelle, crossing her arms.

“And your common room is in the other direction,” said Dirk, pointing down the dungeon corridor. There was a tired look on his face. “Don’t you have literally anything better to do?”

At this, Regulus gave his full attention to them for the first time. He quietly considered the situation before speaking. “Guys, let’s just go. It’s late and I really don’t need another detention for being out after curfew.”

Snape sent him a nasty look, a look similarly to the one he saved for Sirius. Hermione had wondered how he could hate Sirius so much but hang out with his brother, and the answer to that seemed to be that Snape didn’t seem to particularly like either of them. Rosier on the other hand looked at Regulus and gave a sharp nod.

“Good thinking, Regulus, plus I don’t feel like taking another shower tonight but if we stay around this filth any longer I may have to.”

The three boys turned on their heels and stalked down the corridor.

Dirk turned back to look at Hermione. “They’re not usually that nasty,” he said, moving his hand through his light brown hair. “But lately they’ve seemed more on edge. It’s best to ignore them.”

The four of the made their way out of the dungeons and continued to discuss the upcoming party, but Lily stayed relatively quiet, looking slightly somber. It was mostly Dirk and Michelle leading the conversation. When they reached the entrance hall, Michelle and Dirk waved goodbye as they headed towards the Hufflepuff common room and Hermione and Lily quietly made their way to Gryffindor tower.

When they entered the common room, Hermione noticed the boys sitting by the fireplace. James was sitting in an armchair while Remus and Sirius were on the couch, and Peter was sitting on the floor by Sirius, leaning backwards against the couch, as all the other armchairs by the fire were taken.

Lily sent the boys a weak smile and waved slightly.

“I’m actually going to go to bed early,” said Lily to Hermione. She could see Lily’s eyes had begun to get wet again and Lily quickly made her way across the common room and up the stairs to the dormitories.

“Is everything alright with Lily?” asked Remus as Hermione approached where they were sitting.

Hermione squeezed herself in between Remus and Sirius on the couch, causing both boys to try to squirm to the sides to make more room. Eventually Remus had to settle by putting his arm behind Hermione to make the most room.

With a shrug, Hermione shook her head. “Evan Rosier, that shifty looking Slytherin, called me, Lily, and Dirk Cresswell mudbloods and Snape agreed with him and I think that hurt Lily. She was probably expecting him to defend her.”

“I could hex him,” said James angrily.

“James, you’ve already had detention twice this week, you need to be more careful,” warned Hermione. “It’s honestly no big deal.”

“We’ve always wanted to break our record, eh Prongs?” grinned Sirius. “Ow!”

Hermione had elbowed him in the ribs. Remus also groaned slightly.

“Not too much room on the couch to be doing that, Hermione,” he said with a pained smirk as he used his other arm to rub his side as well.

“Sorry!”

“At least Rosier is graduating soon,” said Peter. “Then we won’t have to deal with him anymore.”

They all agreed to that.

“So how was the Slug Club?” asked James.

“It actually wasn’t awful,” said Hermione. “You made it sound like a terrible time but it was a nice being there with Lily and Michelle Pickett. I also met Dirk Cresswell from Hufflepuff and he seems very nice. He even stood up to the Slytherins for us.”

“Ah, yes Dirk is very outgoing,” said Remus with a flat tone and Hermione raised her eyebrow at him. “What? He’s nice, that’s all I meant.”

“Was my brother there?” asked Sirius. He had an accusational look in his eyes.

“Yes, he was sitting with Rosier and Snape but he didn’t really seem like he wanted to be there. He seemed fine when he was talking to Slughorn but for the rest of the time he was quiet and seemed… well… bored,” said Hermione. “I also got the feeling that he doesn’t particularly like Snape or Rosier, and Snape does not seem to like him.”

A look of shock actually spread across Sirius’s face. “Interesting… not about the bored and quiet part… Regulus is usually quiet, he likes to gather information and observe what is going on around him rather than share. But it’s pretty interesting if he doesn’t like Rosier and Snape.”

Hermione shrugged. “Well do you know what is interesting? Slughorn is throwing a Christmas party. It’s formal attire so I’ll have to figure something out…”

Sirius groaned. “The annual exclusive Slug Club Christmas party that only his favorites are allowed to attend.”

James laughed from his armchair. “You’d probably be invited if you didn’t keep turning down his invitations to the actual club, Padfoot.”

Sirius grinned. “Same to you, Prongs. But you couldn’t pay me enough Galleons to go.”

“I’ve never even been invited,” grumbled Peter.

“Don’t worry, Peter,” said Remus sympathetically. “Neither have I, and I doubt I ever will.”

“Oh don’t sell yourself short, Remus,” said Hermione warmly. “Slughorn should have every reason to want you to go.”

All of a sudden a wave of tiredness hit Hermione and she let out a large yawn. She knew it had been getting late but she hadn’t realized how tired she was getting. With her eyes shut, she shook her head slightly as another yawn came. She blinked a few times and looked around at the boys staring at her, looking amused.

“Maybe it’s time for you to go to bed, Hermione,” said Remus with his crooked smile, looking at her fondly.

“Yes, maybe…” said Hermione as she yawned again. “I’ll see you all tomorrow then.”

As the boys said their goodbyes, Hermione made her way to the staircase to the girls’ dormitories, ready to crawl into her warm bed.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

One day during the second week of December, the school had woken up to see the grounds covered in layers of pure white snow. Glistening icicles were hangings outside the windows, reflecting the winter sun throughout the castle. Every fireplace throughout Hogwarts was lit, creating a cozy warmness throughout the school, except for the occasional cool draft in the dungeons.

Christmas was rapidly approaching and it was one of Hermione’s favorite times of the year to be at Hogwarts. There was just something so comforting about being in the beautiful castle as it was being decorated for the holidays. The staircases had silver garlands wrapped around the banisters along with everlasting icicles that seemed to sparkle with ever step you took. Wherever she went, suits of armor were singing Christmas carols and even Peeves would join in, although it was usually to change the lyrics to something rude. The Great Hall was still in the process of being decorated by the prefects and staff but even then it was by far the most impressive room with its twelve Christmas trees and dry snow that was charmed to fall from the enchanted ceiling.

Lily and Mary had tried to bring the Christmas cheer to their dormitory and had wrapped all of the bed posts in fir and holly garlands. Poinsettias were placed on the windowsill and Lily had created some sort of potion that would change scents throughout the day, alternating between cinnamon apple, pine, peppermint, gingerbread, and cranberries. She kept the potion in the heating stove in the center of the dormitory and the room never failed to smell like Christmas. They told Hermione that it was a tradition that the two of them had every year to make it feel homier near the holidays. Lily and Mary had given Hermione the final task of hanging the wreath on their door, welcoming her into their tradition.

Hermione had to agree that she had never felt more at home in the dormitory. It was why she had decided to work on her transfigurations essays from the comforts of her own bed rather than her usual spot in the library. In her time it was rare that the dormitory was ever empty, but here it was a lot more likely by having only two roommates. Mary was with friends and Lily had to go with the other prefects to decorate the Great Hall so Hermione welcomed the solitude and comfort that the empty dormitory gave her.

She had a few hours to herself before Lily returned to the dormitory and smiled when she spotted Hermione. She looked slightly disheveled and had pieces of garland and holly in her auburn hair but she still seemed happy as she carried a brown package in her arms.

Hermione laid down her textbook and gave Lily a questioning smile. “What happened to you?”

Lily crossed the room and set down her package on her nightstand. She then flopped down on her bed and casually began picking Christmas decorations out of her hair, making a small pile in front of her on her scarlet sheets.

“Oh you know, just Peeves being Peeves,” sighed Lily. She looked up at Hermione’s puzzled expression and continued. “He decided to knock over one of the Christmas trees right after Remus and I had finished decorating it and we got pelted with the decorations.”

“I’m glad you weren’t hurt,” said Hermione, thinking back to the previous Christmas when she was a prefect and Peeves wreaked havoc on her and Ron as they decorated the Great Hall.

“Yeah, I feel bad for Remus too because he’s still there finishing up,” said Lily, removing the last bit of holly from her hair.

“Why did you get out early?”

Lily beamed and sat up in her bed and grabbed the package on her nightstand. “Because this gem came and there wasn’t much left to do so Flitwick said I could go!”

Hermione stared at the brown paper wrapped rectangular box in Lily’s arms.

“What’s that?” asked Hermione.

“I’ll show you!”

Lily began to open the box, throwing bits of paper onto her bed in the process. A few second later, Lily held up beautiful emerald green dress robes that flowed through the air as she lifted it out of the box.

“Wow, Lily. It’s gorgeous!” said Hermione as she stared at the dress robes.

Lily beamed as her. “Isn’t it? It looks even better than in the magazine!”

She hugged the fabric to her chest and let out a little squeal.

“It matches your eyes,” said Hermione. She looked at the dress robes and was reminded of Harry, quickly averted her glance. Luckily Lily didn’t notice.

Lily grinned at her. “I’m glad you think that, that’s what I was going for.”

Carefully, as if it were a bomb, Lily put her dress robes back in the box and tucked it safely into her trunk and looked back at Hermione.

“I’m really glad you’re here Hermione,” said Lily warmly. “And I’m so glad you’re coming, we’re going to have so much fun.”

Hermione was moved by this and smiled at Lily. “I think it will be fun."

Then Lily’s smile began to fall and she wrapped her blanket around herself.

“Lily, what’s wrong?” asked Hermione, worried at her change of attitude.

“I’ve always ever gone with Sev,” said Lily, wrapping herself tighter with her blanket. “To the party I mean. I’ve never dated anyone close to Christmas time and he didn’t ever have anyone to bring so we always just went as friends.”

It was a strange thought to picture Lily and Snape all dressed up and attending a party together, even if it was just as friends. Hermione couldn’t imagine that he would be much fun, but nothing seemed too out of the ordinary these days.

“Well it won’t be the end of the world if you didn’t bring a date,” said Hermione.

Lily’s eyes got wide and Hermione guessed she had said something wrong. “Oh no, Hermione you have to bring a date! I mean, you don’t _have_ to but it’s expected of us to go with a guest. It says so right on the invitation he sent out two weeks ago.”

“I thought that was optional…” said Hermione. “Would it be terrible to not have one?”

“I wouldn’t say terrible…” said Lily slowly, “But you wouldn’t want to stick out.”

Sticking out was the last thing Hermione wanted to do.

“I don’t want to pressure you but the party is this weekend, the day before we leave for Christmas holiday. If you’re going to ask someone to go you should probably do it soon,” said Lily. “Do you have your dress robes yet?”

Hermione did in fact have dress robes, but her main worry now was whether or not she had a date. Normally she wouldn’t care if she went solo, she could handle herself and it wouldn’t have been a big deal in 1996, but she had to at least try to blend in here. Unfortunately, that meant she would have to ask someone to the party and the first boy she could think of was Remus.

“Wait,” said Hermione suddenly. “Who are you going with?”

“Oh,” said Lily. “I actually just asked Remus to go with me.”

 _Ah_ , thought Hermione. _Figures._

“Really? You and Remus?” said Hermione raising her eyebrow. She hadn’t had any ideas who Lily would have taken, part of her hoped it was James but never had she expected this to happen.

“Only as friends of course!” said Lily quickly when she saw Hermione’s expression. “It isn’t like that at all. It’s just when the package came I was reminded that I didn’t have a date and Remus was right there so I asked him to come with me. I made it very clear as friends.”

“Well I’m sure you’ll have a good time together,” said Hermione, who was starting getting anxious. Who on Earth would she take now? Maybe she just wouldn’t show up…

“Wait…” said Lily, sending Hermione a nervous look. “You didn’t want to take Remus did you? Do you, do you _like_ him?”

Lily started to grin as she came to that completely wrong conclusion and Hermione felt her face grow warm, which probably made Lily think she had been right.

“Trust me Lily, Remus is just a friend,” said Hermione definitely.

Lily’s face fell. “Oh, you two would be cute together. But I am glad that you don’t have a thing for him because I’d feel terrible about asking him."

Hermione gave an uncomfortable laugh.

“But if you do fancy someone and want to ask them to the party I’d be more than willing to help,” smiled Lily.

Lily then began to clean off the decorations she pulled from her hair and the paper scrappings from her bed. Hermione reopened her textbook and was trying her best to concentrate on the text but she was too distracted.

With a sigh, Hermione closed the book and stood up from her bed.

“I’ll be right back,” said Hermione as she headed for the door.

“Where are you going?” asked Lily, looking puzzled.

“To find a date,” she called over her shoulder as she walked out of the room and into the staircase.

She could do this, she kept reminding herself. How hard could finding a date be?

Hermione followed the steps down until she entered the warm common room. The common room itself had been decorated for the upcoming holidays as well as the rest of the school. A small green and holly wreath hung on the mantel of the fireplace, which was covered in fake snow, and there were scarlet and gold stockings hanging on either side of it. Small candles were floating around the perimeter of the common room and twinkling, seeming almost reminiscent of muggle Christmas lights. But the loveliest decoration was the blue fir Christmas tree in the far corner of the room beside the armchairs next to the fireplace. Small fairies were flying around the tree and the tree itself was garnished with mistletoe, holly, and decorations that transformed themselves throughout the day.

James and Sirius were sitting beside the tree in two of the comfy scarlet armchairs by the fire. James was playing with a snitch, just like he had done at the lake, while Sirius was whistling a wizard Christmas carol as he read from a textbook. Hermione nearly did a double take as she processed what she was seeing. Sirius Black… was doing _homework_ while away from her and Remus? It truly was a Christmas miracle.

Sirius’s head lifted from his textbook as he noticed Hermione enter the room and flashed her a grin and James followed suit

“Alright, Hermione?” asked Sirius as Hermione crossed the room stopping beside the armchair James was sitting in.

“Okay, I don’t want to jinx anything but I’m actually impressed that you both are doing work without me or Remus prompting you to,” said Hermione with a cheeky smile.

James rolled his eyes and smiled. “Well Remus is still decorating the Great Hall or something like that and you were nowhere to be found and it had to get done eventually. Peter actually just went off to find him.”

Hermione smirked and crossed her arms. “Well if that’s all it takes then perhaps Remus and I will have to make ourselves scarce more often.”

Sirius grinned cheekily and raised his eyebrow. “Well if you need to excuse to have some… alone time…”

Taken-aback, Hermione grimaced at what he was implying, “don’t be foul, Sirius. You know perfectly well that is not what I meant.”

Why was everyone so curious if she liked Remus? Boys and girls could be just friends… And not to mention how inappropriate that would have been given her circumstances.

Sirius, who was still grinning, let out a short laugh, “Sure thing, Hermione. So what are you up to?”

Once Sirius asked that question, it dawned on Hermione what she was going to do about a date.

“Well you know how there’s that Christmas party that Professor Slughorn is throwing?”

“Yeah, still sounds like a snooze fest,” said Sirius, rolling his eyes.

Hermione pursed her lips and bit back a remark before turning to face James. “Well, I was wondering if you’d like to go with me, James.”

A shocked look spread across James’s face and he opened his mouth before quickly closing it again, looking at a loss for words.

Realizing what he must be thinking, Hermione quickly added, “as friends of course. Lily told me it’s customary to bring a date and I can’t be the only one to show up alone…”

James seemed to relax at that statement but still did not look too thrilled.

“Oh come on, you won’t be the only one without a date,” laughed Sirius. “Lily will be there.”

Hermione raised an eyebrow at Sirius. “Well that’s what I thought at first but Lily just informed me that, as a matter of fact, she does has a date.”

Hermione watched James as he absorbed this information and it was almost as if she could see the exact moment where it registered what she had said as James jumped up in his seat.

“WHAT?” gasped James, looking dramatically alert in his armchair. “Who is it?”

“Not Snivellus, right?” asked Sirius with a dark look crossing his face.

“No no no of course not!” Hermione rushed to say. “Give Lily a little bit more credit than that…”

“Then who?” asked James.

“She also asked a friend,” said Hermione carefully. If James had gotten the wrong idea with her asking him, she couldn’t imagine what James would do if he thought Lily had feelings for Remus. “She asked Remus to go with her.”

“ _REMUS?_ ” gasped James.

“As friends!” repeated Hermione. “Just like how I’m asking you to go.”

As James babbled incoherently to himself Sirius feigned a hurt look. “And why don’t I get the invite?”

Hermione raised her eyebrow at him. “Would you have even wanted to go?”

“No…” responded Sirius. “But I’m still offended that you didn’t ask me!”

“You said a few weeks ago that you couldn’t be paid enough to go!”

“That may be true but what if I had been lying!”

Hermione rolled her eyes in annoyance. “Do _you_ want to go with me, Sirius?”

“Hey!” said James.

Sirius grinned, “Nah, you still couldn’t pay me enough to go to that party.”

Hermione let out a frustrated groan and turned back to James. “Please, James?”

James turned his attention to the fire for a moment while he considered this. The longer he took the more nervous Hermione got.

“Just think about all the time you can spend with Lily if you go! The four of us can just hang out together,” said Hermione, getting desperate. “Plus everyone will be dressed nice so it’s a good excuse for you to dress well and impress Lily.”

She had expected James to react positively to this but he didn’t take his attention away from the fire. Even Sirius looked at him curiously. Finally he turned towards Hermione and smiled.

“Alright, I’ll go with you, Hermione,” he said, and laughed when Hermione let out a sign of relief. “But not because of Lily. I’m going to go with you because you’re my friend.”

Hermione’s face broke into a large grin and she ran to the armchair James was sitting in and leaned over him, trapping him in a big hug.

“Too tight, can’t breathe. Don’t make me change my mind, Hermione!” gasped James and Hermione quickly stood up straight but was still grinning.

“Great! I will meet you at eight o’clock on Saturday night!” and then Hermione turned around and quickly made her way back to the dormitory.

“Girls are weird,” said James.

“Tell me about it, mate,” said Sirius.

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

It was nearly eight o’clock and James was standing in the middle of the common room, waiting for the girls to make an appearance. Remus stood beside him in dark brown dress robes that hung slightly too loose on him, but overall James had to admit that Remus managed to clean up well, it was rare that James saw any of his friends dressed up.

James himself was wearing a set of classic black dress robes but he felt like he looked kind of boring. He bet that most of the blokes there would be wearing similar robes, Remus being one of the few not in black.

He wasn’t mad that Lily had asked Remus to go with her, he understood that. The two of them had gotten close over the past two years and he knew it was just as friends. He also wasn’t mad that Remus had agreed to be her date. What was Moony supposed to do? Leave Lily hanging? No, James was glad that if Lily had to ask anyone she had chosen Moony. But he would be lying if he said he was a little let down about not going with Lily, even though he had agreed to just being friends with her. Friends was better than nothing.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a group of girls from across the common room staring and him and Remus, giggling to one another. The two of them did seem to stand out in their dress robes, being the only two Gryffindor boys attending the party. James couldn’t help but smirk and he ran his hands through his messy hair and the girls began to whisper more urgently and James saw Remus frown at their reaction.

His dad had sent him some of his Sleekeazy's Hair Potion after he wrote to his parents about attending the party but James didn’t care for it, so he had given it to Hermione, who he remembered saying that she had used it in the past. He preferred his hair to stay as it was, even if it did drive his mother mad.

There was the creak of a wooden door opening and closing above them and soon James caught a glimpse of Hermione walking down the stairs. James had to admit that it took him a good second to realize it was her. Beside him, Remus stood wide eyed as he took in her appearance, his mouth was slightly agape.

She had used his father’s potion after all because her normally bushy mess of a hair was smooth and shiny. She had pinned it up to the back of her head with small ringlets spilling down to frame her face. Her dress robes were long and flowed behind her in waves of scarlet as she descended the stairs. The girls in the corner even grew quiet as she entered the common room, not believing it was her.

There was an unusually shy and nervous grin on her face, which was very unlike Hermione, as she approached the boys, as if she was waiting for them to say something rude. How had people really treated her at Beauxbatons?

“So…” said Hermione cautiously. “What do you think?

She did a small turn so they could see all of her dress robes and grinned back at them.

“I can honestly say, Hermione, that you look absolutely breathtaking,” said Remus, who seemed to be in some kind of trance.

Hermione beamed up at him. “Oh just wait until you see your date!”

Then Lily’s figure appeared on the stairs and it was as if James’s world stopped for a moment. To him, the common room was empty. The girls in the corner were gone and Remus and Hermione were nowhere to be seen. All that existed was the goddess that seemed to walk towards him in slow motion.

Lily’s auburn hair fell in waves slightly past her shoulders with the front of her hair braided with small gold and silver gems to the side to keep her fringe from falling in her face.

Her dress robes were emerald green with a low neckline that was also made up of gold and silver gems to match the ones in her hair. The green fabric made her eyes vibrant and pop and her hair never looked so bright and red in contrast to her dress. The dress highlighted every amazing feature in Lily and James couldn’t help but think that dress must have been made for her and her alone.

There were slight flickers of glitter on her face and she beamed down at him, or probably at the three of them but James would never admit that, and she seemed to glow.

For a second James was out of breath as he stared at Lily, and it felt like something was pulling at his stomach.

James took a step towards her but was brought back to reality when he felt someone elbow him. Startled as the world came back to him, he looked down at Hermione, who was stifling a laugh as she gave him a look that could only mean “play it cool”.

“Sorry I’m late. Mary was putting the finishing touches on my hair,” said Lily with a grin. “Shall we?”

James automatically made a move to walk beside Lily but Lily had grabbed a hold on Remus’s arm and started towards the door, Remus sent him a quick apologetic look and James stopped in his tracks. Hermione came up beside him and took a hold of his arm, looking amused and James felt like an arse.

“She really does look beautiful, doesn’t she?” said Hermione under her breath so only he could hear her as they began to follow the other two out of the common room. There was a glimmer of amusement in her eyes as if she could see right through him and knew what he was thinking. “You might need to control yourself a little bit better.”

James’s face flushed and in that moment he was never more grateful to be with Hermione. She wasn’t going to make fun of him or be mad that he had completely forgotten that she was his date and not Lily. She really was a true friend and he had meant it when he said he was going for her. Which is why he felt so ashamed to have lost his cool like that.

The two of them caught up to Remus and Lily and the four of them chatted casually on their way to the dungeons. James didn’t know where the party was happening, clearly it wouldn’t be in Slughorn’s broom cupboard of an office, so he instead just followed Lily and soon enough he could hear the faint sound of music growing louder as he got farther into the dungeons. Finally, when the music was as clear as day, Lily grinned and waved them into one of the unused rooms in the dungeons.

James had never been to this room before and was surprised at how big it was. The room was bigger than most of the rooms he had been to in the dungeons and he had a feeling that it might have been magically altered to be able to fit everything and everyone. The room itself didn’t even resemble the grey stone dungeons at all. The walls and ceiling were dressed in green, red, gold, and silver drapes that gave the room the appearance of being in a large tent. Candles floated around the room casting an amber light over the crowd of people that were scatted around enjoying the party. There were a mix of students and also adults throughout the room and in the far corner a small group of instruments were enchanted to play music. House-elves with trays were wandering around the room offering beverages and food to the partygoers.

“House elves!” gasped Hermione under her breath. Her eyes were lit and enraged at the sight of the servants. “I can’t believe they are being forced to work this! And at Christmas too!”

James stared at her blankly and was saved from responding when a cheerful, and dare he say it, tipsy, Slughorn approached them in a velvet smoking jacket, grinning from ear to ear. James made a move to escape but Hermione held him back sending him a stern look that oddly reminded him of McGonagall.

“Isn’t it my favorite Gryffindors!” chortled Slughorn. He beamed at Lily and Hermione. “I’m very very glad you made girls.”

“We’re happy to be here, Sir,” said Lily with a smile.

He turned and spotted James and his grin seemed to somehow get bigger which James did not think was possible. “James, m’boy!” boomed Slughorn. “It’s great to see you here!”

Slughorn glanced over at Remus. “Ah, glad to see you too Mr. Lupin.”

Remus gave a polite and amused nod. “You too, Sir.”

“So! James!” beamed Slughorn. “Are you accompanying Lily this evening?”

James opened his mouth to answer when Lily called out, “actually he’s with Hermione. I came with Remus.” Her face was slightly flushed and James felt that weird pull in his stomach again.

For a moment it looked like Slughorn was disappointed at that answer before going back to grinning. “Well come of out the door, come come! Enjoy the party! Ah, will you excuse me? I must go and say hi to our other guests who are arriving!”

Slughorn stepped past them and that’s when James noticed Snape from across the room. He was standing near Regulus and Rosier, who had both managed to procure dates, and was sulking. As if he knew James had spotted him, Snape’s attention turned towards him and it gave James a great sense of satisfaction at Snape’s surprise at seeing him there. He watched as Snape looked between him and then at Lily and Snape’s face broke out in fury. So Snape had assumed they came together, and James had every intention of never correcting that assumption.

Lily seemed to notice this small altercation. “Let’s go this way!” she said quickly and grabbed a hold of Remus’s robes and quite literally began to drag him with her. She grabbed a glass of mead in the process and James had to hurry to keep up with her while managing to maneuver the crowded room with Hermione only a step behind him. They made their way over to a roaring fireplace that was periodically changing colors where there were no Slytherins in sight.

“Now,” said Lily, taking a long sip of her glass and smiling. “Let’s have fun!”

As the party continued James was surprised to actually find himself having a good time. The drinks and food were amazing and the music quickly turned into something worth dancing too. James only wished that Sirius and Peter were there as well. The only downside was having to endure Hermione ranting about the house elves being mistreated, but he managed to district her by getting her to dance.

“I’m going to get more mead!” beamed Lily, who was slightly pink in the face from dancing, and probably the mead. Even pink, James never had seen someone so beautiful. “Do any of you want anything?”

“Yeah mead sounds great,” said James.

Lily grinned at him. “Coming right up!”

.:~*~*~*~*~:. 

Lily had bounced out of sight and Hermione was left with the two boys. She did have to admit, that she was having a much better time than she had expected. And by the look on James’s face, she assumed he was having a good time as well, which she was glad about after practically begging him to come with her. She was also glad that he and Lily were getting along so well, which had been one of the reasons she had asked James to come with her. Remus also seemed like he was having fun but there was also a distracted look in his eyes, but Hermione didn’t want to bring it up in front of everyone.

Michelle and Dirk had also shown up, they went together as friends as well, and joined their group for a while. It was nice being surrounded by friends but there was a touch of tension in the air with Dirk and Michelle with them, given that James and Remus were not very close with them, particularly with Dirk, but Michelle seemed to pick up on this and excused the two of them to go elsewhere at the party after a while.

The atmosphere in the air was lively and it was nice to be able to let loose with three of her friends, or now just two since Lily had disappeared. After a moment of Lily being gone, James excused himself to use the toilet and Hermione found herself alone with Remus.

“Would you mind if we moved to the other side of the room?” said Remus loudly over the music that was playing beside them. They must have been thinking the same thing because he gestured towards the enchanted instruments a few feet away. “I feel like the longer we’re here the louder they get.”

She agreed and the two of them crossed the room to be closer to refreshment table by the door where they were able to hear each other easier.

Hermione looked around. “Do you see Lily? I assumed she’d be by the drinks. I hope she’s able to find us over here.”

“She’ll find us,” said Remus. He grabbed two goblets from the table and handed one to Hermione who gripped it and took a sip of the lovely honey mead.

Remus was quiet again, looking nervous for some reason with sparked Hermione’s curiosity.

“Are you alright, Remus?” she asked with an eyebrow raised.

His head popped up slightly at the question as if she startled him.

“Hm? Oh yes, I’m fine. I guess I’m just kind of tired,” he said with a weary smile to her.

“Are you not having a good time?”

“No I’m happy I’m here with you, Lily, and James. I’ve just never been one for big social gatherings,” he said with a shrug, looking away from her.

“You know, when Lily told me we had to bring a date my immediate thought was to ask you to come with me,” said Hermione, taking a sip of her drink and looking across the room at the crowd of people standing around talking or dancing to the music.

Remus raised his eyebrow and looked down at her, a hint of a smile on his face. “You wanted to go with me?”

Hermione turned to face him and nodded nonchalantly, but glad to have more of his attention. “You’re my closest guy friend… actually you’re one of my closest friends in general here. I would have asked you sooner but I didn’t know this was the type of party we needed a date for. I was disappointed when Lily told me she had already asked you.”

She took another sip of her drink as Remus seemed to quietly process this.

“Oh,” was all Remus said in response. He cleared his throat and took a sip of his own drink before turning his gaze away from her and he suddenly seemed very interested in what the other guests were doing, lost in thought.

Hermione felt her face turn hot and she quickly looked away as well. She cursed herself for being so stupid – she was smarter than this. She had hoped that saying that might have cheered him up but it seemed to have the opposite effect. The last thing she wanted to do was make Remus feel more uncomfortable. Who just comes out and says deep emotional things like that? From all the experiences she had with Ron and Harry, she had learnt that boys didn’t tend to make grand statements of friendship.

There was an awkward silence as Hermione scanned the room wondering where James and Lily had gone and desperately wishing for Lily to return. But as she watched the groups of people dancing, eating, and drinking she couldn’t spot Lily nor her own date.

Beside her, Remus cleared his throat and Hermione looked back at him. He looked as awkward as she felt. “Well, I’m glad we’re both still here together. Even if both of our dates have disappeared.”

He sent her a crooked smile and pulled her into a side hug and Hermione immediately relaxed and leaned into his body. The smell of chocolate was faintly present and she smiled to herself.

“Although I definitely would not have minded if you had asked me first,” said Remus and Hermione could hear the smirk in his voice. “And even though I have only known you for four months I consider you one of my close friends as well.”

“Well good,” said Hermione. She gave him a quick squeeze and then pulled away. “But we both do have our own dates… no matter where they ran off to…”

She looked around the room trying to spot Lily but couldn’t see her anywhere, and it would be hard to miss the bright green dress robes.

“Do you think they’re together?” asked Remus, smirking and raising an eyebrow towards her.

Hermione grinned at that thought. “That would be an interesting development.”

“Honestly, I’d be surprised if they didn’t end up together,” said Remus with a grin. “I mean, it’s bound to happen eventually.”

“Who are?” asked Lily, who had just returned and was smiling at the two of them.

Remus’s eyes went wide and he opened his mouth but no sound came out.

“Dirk and Michelle,” said Hermione without missing a beat, and she could see the corner of Remus’s mouth twitch in relief and amusement at the odd pairing.

Lily frowned. “Dirk and Michelle? I highly doubt it. I was actually just talking to Michelle and she mentioned that Dirk has a thing for someone else. And Michelle clearly just sees him as a friend.”

“Oh,” said Remus who was struggling to keep his mouth from twitching into a smile. “I guess we were wrong.”

“So that’s where you’ve been this whole time?” asked Hermione, quickly changing the subject. “I was looking for you in the crowd but it’s hard to see through all the people.”

Lily gave her and Remus a guilty smile. “Sorry, she caught me and I lost track of time. Also Slughorn kept trying to introduce me to people…”

Just then, James came walking back into the party. He looked around for a bit before spotting them and walking over.

“Where have you been?” asked Lily as James approached.

“Loo,” said James with a smirk.

“The party seems to be ending,” said Hermione, looking around the room as people starting making their exits. The instruments began playing softer and slower as if encouraging people to leave.

James looked down at his watch. “It is getting pretty late.”

“Should we head out?” asked Remus.

Lily sighed. “I suppose so… We should probably get some rest before the Hogwarts Express tomorrow.”

Hermione’s smile fell from her face as it began to dawn on her that she was going to be spending Christmas holiday alone this year after everyone left tomorrow. She carefully avoiding letting them know this though as she was still coming up with an excuse to not take the train back with them, but she shook the thought from her head for the time being.

The four of them began to make the long trek back towards Gryffindor tower, still giddy from the party and the mead, all high in spirits.

“Is it bad that I haven’t started packing?” said James as they approached the Fat Lady. And even Lily couldn’t help but laugh.


	15. Alone Again

* * *

Chapter 15 - Alone Again

* * *

The Great Hall was lively the morning following Slughorn’s Christmas Party. It was filled with students eating their last breakfast together of the term, except for the students who planned to stay at Hogwarts. While some students were chatting excitedly about getting to go home and their Christmas holiday plans, other were saying their goodbyes to their friends who they would miss.

“You’d think they’d never seen each other again,” said Sirius as he looked towards a girl who just burst into tears across the hall and pulled her friend into a hug. “It’s only two weeks!”

Remus had to agree, but only to an extent. While some people did act like not seeing each other was the end of the world and were clearly overreacting, there had been times when Remus felt the same way about leaving his friends. The first holiday after they found out he was a werewolf was a particularly hard goodbye for him, Never in his life had he expected to make such amazing and supportive friends and being away from them for even a short amount of time killed him. Even today he was feeling somber at having to say goodbye to his good friends, and now Hermione…

“Does this mean you won’t miss us?” asked Peter with a smirk.

“Of course I’ll miss _you_ , Wormtail. Hell, I’ll even miss Moony!” said Sirius and Remus rolled his eyes. “But someone is going to have to rescue me from having to spend my entire holiday with Prongs.”

“Oi! You love it at my house!” said James.

“I do love it at your house, and I love your parents,” said Sirius. “But you I’m kind of _eh_ about.”

James grinned and raised his glass of orange juice in the air. “Ah, same to you, mate. Cheers”

Sirius and James clanked glasses.

“Well, I hope you’ll miss us enough to write,” said Remus with a small smile. “Because you will all definitely be hearing from me.”

“Of course we’ll write, Moony,” said James.

“Every day,” said Peter with a nod.

“Okay, Wormtail, every day seems a little excessive to me,” joked Sirius and Peter rolled his eyes at him.

“Ignore him, Peter,” said Remus.

Sirius then looked up towards the door and frowned, looking disappointed.

“Man! Her hair is normal again. I really wanted it to see it all nice and shiny…”

Remus turned around and followed Sirius’s gaze and his eyes fell on Hermione who was walking towards where they sat. As Sirius had pointed out, her hair was back to its usual bushy unmanageable self and her face was rid of makeup. She was wearing her regular black robes with her bag overflowing with books slung over her shoulder. Remus was actually relieved to see her looking like her normal self, even though she did look absolutely stunning the previous night. This was their Hermione.

“Why is your hair all bushy again?” said Sirius before Remus could even greet her as she sat down beside him.

Hermione raised her eyebrow at Sirius as she helped herself to some toast. “Good morning to you too, Sirius.”

“I heard that you had sleek and shiny hair at old Sluggy’s party last night. What happened to it?” asked Sirius. He poked his fork at her curls which she slapped away. Remus facepalmed. “James and Remus got to see you all dolled up, why am I the only one left out?”

“Hey, I wasn’t there either,” added Peter but Sirius ignored because he was too busy making a fuss.

“Because I showered, Sirius,” said Hermione eying him. “Are you not familiar with the term?”

Sirius scoffed and then grinned. “Of course I am. Do you think I look this good _without_ showering?”

His arms went in the air and he did a weird flexing movement that ended with him running his hands through his thick black hair.

Not being able to help it, Hermione burst out laughing at Sirius as the rest of them just stared, not knowing what to say.

“The potion washed out of my hair in the shower and it’s much too tedious to use every day,” said Hermione, her eyes sparkling with laughter. “But it was nice while it lasted…”

“That’s a shame,” said Sirius. “I heard that you looked real good.”

He winked at her and Hermione rolled her eyes at him, but she still had a faint smile on her face. Remus frowned at the odd encounter.

Something had changed since last night and he could feel it. There was something different about Hermione, or at least something he had never noticed before. An air of confidence embodied her. She had always seemed so confident in her smarts, schoolwork, and opinions but this was different. Remus didn’t know how to phrase it exactly but it was like she was confident in herself as a person, she was comfortable, maybe even happier. Her usually welcoming smile was brighter than normal and infectious. He couldn’t seem to take his eyes off of her.

“Remus, you’re staring at me. Is there something on my face?” Hermione said as she began brushing her hands across her face.

Willing himself not to turn red, Remus shook his head. “No no you don’t. Sorry, I must have zooned out…”

Hermione smiled kindly at him. “Is there a lot on your mind?”

“Yeah, actually,” muttered Remus to himself.

“Come again?” asked Hermione, cocking her head to the side, her warm brown eyes looking curious.

“Yeah, I’m just thinking about the holiday… and what I’m going to do. I’ll need to find something to occupy my time,” said Remus vaguely, and Hermione gave him a sympathetic smile.

“Well I know what _I_ am going to do,” said Sirius cheerily. “I’m going to do no work, I’m going to sleep in every day, and I’m going to be eating a lot of Euphemia Potter’s food.”

“And that’s a lot of food,” added James seriously.

Remus saw Hermione smirk at Sirius. “So the only difference between then and now is eating food from James’s mother and not Hogwarts?”

“Oh you have seen nothing yet, Hermione. I think you underestimate my ability to sleep literally all day long,” said Sirius. “You think me sleeping through breakfast on the weekends is bad? Wait until you see me sleep through lunch too.”

“As fascinating as that sounds, it would be very difficult to see that from here,” said Hermione.

“What?” said James. “You’re not going home for Christmas?”

“Nope, which is why I have my schoolbag with me. After breakfast I’m headed to the library,” said Hermione, patting her bag.

“You hadn’t mentioned that before,” said Remus with a frown wondering why she had neglected to tell them.

Hermione shrugged. “I didn’t think it was a big deal.”

“But why aren’t you going home?” asked Remus, curious about why she’d rather stay at Hogwarts alone rather than be with her family. While she rarely spoke about her family, when she did talk about them it was usually positive and her eyes would grow soft. He had assumed she’d want to go home and see them.

For a second Remus swore he saw her hesitate at the question. “My parents are away… and I would rather be here on Christmas than in my house alone.”

“Why don’t you come back to my place with me and Sirius?” said James after a moment. “We have more than enough room at my house and my mom cooks an amazing Christmas dinner.”

“I’m flattered, James,” said Hermione with a tired smile. “But I can’t just crash your family’s Christmas like that, especially with no warning.”

“I doubt my parents would mind…” said James. “My mum loves when my friends are over. She practically lives for it.”

“It’s true,” said Peter. “She loves us.”

“Really, thank you, James,” said Hermione. “Lily offered me the same thing after I told her this morning as well, but I will be perfectly fine spending the break here. Besides, I haven’t even packed and the train leaves soon. Look, people are already headed out!”

Scattered throughout the Hall, students were beginning to finish their breakfasts and started to leave.

“You’re going to be alone on Christmas!” gaped Sirius.

Hermione’s smile faltered slightly at Sirius’s comment and Remus felt the strange urge to hit him.

“Wait, so you won’t be on the train with us?” asked Peter and Hermione shook her head at him. “Shame, that’s usually one of my favorite times.”

“Guys,” sighed Hermione. “I will be fine here.”

 “So where did your parents go?” asked Peter. “And why didn’t they take you?”

Remus watched Hermione as she considered how she was going to answer. It was obvious that Hermione wasn’t very fond of Peter but it also seemed that she had been trying to tolerate him more recently, especially now after a rather blunt question that could be misinterpreted as rude.

“Right before we left Paris my parents got involved with Médecins Sans Frontières,” said Hermione, with careful pronunciation of the French words.

“Something without boarders?” asked Sirius and Hermione gave him an impressed and questionable look. “What? I know a bit of French, my family liked to go to France in the summer. I don’t know what ‘médecins’ means though.”

“Doctors,” said Hermione, still looking at Sirius with an impressed smirk. “Doctors Without Boarders. It’s a humanitarian project to help people in less privileged countries get the medical care they need when they would not normally be able to. Apparently there is a lot more gum and tooth disease than people thought… Don’t forget to floss, guys.”

Sirius, Peter, and James were staring at her as if she were speaking gibberish and Remus couldn’t help but laugh which earned him a grin from Hermione.

“Are you sure that you’ll be fine here by yourself?” asked James. “Honestly, you could spend it with us.”

“I spent an entire summer by myself and I managed,” said Hermione reassuringly. “If I can do that then I suppose I can last two weeks.”

There was a tapping sound coming from the front of the Great Hall and Remus looked up to see Professor McGonagall tapping her wand on the podium.

“If you are not registered to stay at Hogwarts for the Christmas holiday then this is the time for you to gather your belongings and start to head to the train station. The carriages are beginning to leave,” said McGonagall, giving a stern look over her glasses at the few groups of students still in the Great Hall before landing on the group of them.

The remaining students in the Great Hall began to get up from their tables, leaving behind the students staying at Hogwarts. James and Sirius began to stand and Peter hastily followed.

“Sorry, Hermione, but we need to go back for our trunks before we miss the train,” said James, sending her an apologetic smile.

“That’s alright,” said Hermione, as she stood up from the table as well. “You better hurry though.”

James grinned, “Have a good holiday, then?”

Sirius, James, and Peter began to walk towards the door and Remus quickly began to stand up to follow them.

“And you better actually do your work, Sirius Black!” yelled Hermione as they approached the door. “Because I will not be helping you when you return! Have a good holiday!”

“Yeah yeah!” called Sirius over his shoulder as the three of them got to the threshold. “Hurry up, Moony!”

Remus gave Hermione a sad smile but when he tried to walk past her she grabbed onto his arm, stopping him in his tracks.

“You’ll write won’t you?” she asked him, her brown eyes large and hopeful.

The question made Remus’s stomach tight and warm and he couldn’t help but smile at her. “Of course I will, Hermione.”

A grin spread across her face and she leaned in to hug him. The hug was all too quick, before he could even return the embrace she had released him and was staring at him again with a grin.

“You better hurry and catch up with them,” said Hermione, feigning sternness and cocking her heard in the direction of the door and Remus chuckled. “But you actually really should go, you really don’t want to miss the train.”

Remus grinned. “Have a good holiday, Hermione.”

“Have a good holiday, Remus.” 

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

The castle was unusually quiet over the next few days and Hermione welcomed it, but as the first week of break came to an end Hermione couldn’t help but yearn for the people she had grown so attached to. But, she wasn’t going to let that distract her from the task she had given herself: try to read more books on time travel and once those are done reread as many as possible to see what she missed.

Early on in the break she had gone to visit Dumbledore again, who still had yet to make any progress with finding a way for her to go back. He had given her all the books he could find on the subject for her to go over if she so wished.

Guilt had started to eat at Hermione’s stomach during her visit with him. It had been so long since she had gone to see him about her chances of returning and she had slacked off on her research, which lead to a terrifying thought; what if part of her was happy here and didn’t want to leave? It was a ridiculous idea and Hermione knew that. Of course she wanted to go home. Right?

She wanted to see Harry, Ron, Ginny, and all of the Weasleys again. She wanted her family back. And most importantly, she needed to help Harry take down Voldemort. Yet, she couldn’t shake off how much she was enjoying being here and the friendships she made. But her happiness didn’t matter; it wasn’t as important as all of the things she had to do in her own time, and her friends were waiting on her. They were relying on her.

Most of the days during Holiday were spent with Hermione camped up in the room she had created in the Room of Requirement. It was the only place Hermione knew of that no one would be able to see what books she was reading. At first, she had been reading and taking notes in the library but she had been interrupted by Dirk Cresswell, who apparently was also staying at Hogwarts, and he was thrilled that someone he knew was also there. He had insisted they play a game of wizard’s chess and Hermione couldn’t find a good excuse to say no. She liked Dirk’s company, it was nice to have someone to talk to while everyone else was away and someone to eat meals with, but she couldn’t risk the distraction from her task, and she definitely couldn’t risk Dirk or anyone else seeing the books Dumbledore had given her.

The only distraction she allowed herself was owling her friends, other than that she was researching and writing down anything that seemed even remotely important. She allowed herself a break to answer letters, which was one of her favorite parts of each day. A day didn’t go by where she wouldn’t receive a letter from one of her fellow Gryffindors. It was usually Lily and Remus who wrote the most but she did receive letters from Mary and James as well, even Sirius had managed to write her with his busy schedule of eating, sleeping, and doing nothing.

After spending so much time there, Hermione had made some alterations to the room she created in the Room of Requirements. One of the first things she did was ask the room for Christmas decorations, which the room did not disappoint with. Now the fireplace was decorated with fake snow and garland. Different color baubles floated around the room and poinsettias were on all the desks. A respectable Christmas tree was beside the fireplace that had an enchanted train chugged around the trunk, occasionally blowing its tiny horn.

The biggest change that Hermione decided to make was adding two rooms. She had found that she was spending almost all of her time during break, aside from meals, in the room so it only seemed fit to add a bathroom. She would also lose track of time until she was there well after curfew, and instead of risking the chance of running into Filch and landing in detention, she had just chosen to sleep on one of the couches. The third day of doing that, Hermione had woken up with a sore back so she asked the room for a door leading to her bedroom from back home, and the room did not disappoint. Hermione had practically made herself her own little apartment.

Yet, one of her favorite additions to the room was the record player that was now in the far corner. It had come with an assortment of music to choose from but Hermione was feeling festival on Christmas Eve and was listening to Christmas songs as she sat curled up in an armchair by the fire.

She was reading one of the books Dumbledore had given her called _Why Go Back and Not Forward?: How Time-Turners Screw Everything Up_. Obviously she had not arrived by time-turner but the laws of time travel were the same, there were only ways to go back and not forward. Hermione had to agree with the book, while it was probably a good thing that traveling to the future was impossible, it was rather lame how there was no way to reverse the effects of a time-turner in the case of a mistake. What Hermione really wanted to get her hands on was information about the room in the Department of Mysteries that had caused this whole thing, but that would be an impossible task for her and was best left to Dumbledore.

With a sigh, Hermione marked her place and set the book down and closed her eyes. The record player clicked in a new record and the rich sound of Bing Crosby’s “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” began to play throughout the room, accompanied by the occasional pop of the fire and chime from the grandfather clock on the far side of the room.

Focusing hard with her eyes still shut, Hermione imagined that she was back in her childhood home. She breathed in the fragrance of the scented candles that always burned throughout the room, and the vanilla, apple, and cinnamon aromas allowed her body to relax as they reminded her of the candles her mum would burn.

_“I'll be home for Christmas; you can count on me.”_

It would be a Christmas miracle for her to be home for Christmas and she knew it. Her mother would probably be baking her annual sugar-free pie that she made every Christmas Eve. Hermione wrapped her arms around herself yearning for her mum’s embrace. There was a guilt building inside her as she realized she hadn’t spent Christmas with her parents since her first year at Hogwarts, Would she ever spend it with them again?

_“Please have snow and mistletoe, and presents on the tree.”_

She thought back to the last Christmas, the one where she spent it at Grimmauld place with Harry and the Weasleys. Presents were piled high under the Christmas tree with so many people to celebrate with. Spirits had been high with Harry being with Sirius, having a proper family for the first time, and everyone’s excitement with Mr. Weasley surviving the snake attack and recovering. What she would give to be there right now.

_“Christmas eve will find me, where the love light gleams.”_

The faces of her love one flashed through her mind: her parents, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Fred, George, hell, the entire Weasley family. But then the faces began to change and soon she was imaging James, Lily, Sirius, Mary, and Remus. Her heart began to ache and she forced the images from her mind.

_“I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams.”_

A tear escaped her closed eyes and slowly dripped down her face. She didn’t know how long she sat in the Room of Requirements with her eyes closed. It wasn’t until the clock began to chime that she slowly opened them. She counted the bongs until finally they stopped after the twelfth.

Midnight.

It was officially Christmas.

Slowly, Hermione stood up. After a small stretch, she mechanically walked across the room feeling like an automaton, and moved the tonearm from the record player causing the music to be cut off.

There was a lonely silence throughout the room and Hermione couldn’t bear it. She walked to the newest door in the room and opened it to her childhood bedroom and stepped inside. Her chest was tight as she walked to her dresser and picked up a framed photo of her baby self with her parents. She traced her hand over the glass of the stationary photo and smiled sadly down at it.

She turned and walked towards her bed and carefully set down the photo next to the one of herself, Ron, and Harry that Ginny had taken before she crawled under the covers, not bothering to change.

For a moment she just stared at the two photos side by side as she laid in bed. Another tear slowly made its way sideways down her face until she felt the wet tear tickle her ear.

“Merry Christmas mum and dad,” she whispered to herself quietly. “Merry Christmas Harry and Ron.” 

~o~

That morning Hermione woke up feeling groggy, not having slept very well. It took her a while to will herself out of bed but after a long internal battle, Hermione forced herself to get up. She reasoned that she had to eventually, being as she needed to go back to her dormitory to change for breakfast before the castle was littered with the students who had stayed for Christmas. She didn’t want to be seen or have people question where she had been.

When she walked out of her room and into main room, a strange sight caused her to stop in her tracks. Underneath the Christmas tree were presents. As she approached the presents she noticed a piece of parchment placed on the end table beside the couch. She picked up the parchment and began to read the letter that was scribed on it.

_Dear Hermione,_

_I had the liberty of having your gifts sent here knowing that this is where you would be. I can’t imagine how you are feeling today but let me be the first to wish you a Merry Christmas. I have also left you a small gift. I hope you keep it as a reminder of your time here after we discover how to send you home._

_Sincerely,_

_Albus Dumbledore_

_December 25 th, 1976._

There was a small box beside the letter and Hermione frowned as she opened it. Inside was a small circular gold pin. Etched into the center was “1976”. 

Not knowing what to make of the gesture, Hermione returned the pin to the box and shoved it into her pocket before turning her attention to the small pile of gifts under the tree. A warmth flooded through her at the sight of them.

She walked the few steps towards the tree before sitting like a pretzel in front of the fire on the rug, letting its warmth flow through her.

Grabbing the closest package to her, Hermione carefully removed the wrapping paper. Inside was what appeared to be a pair of normal fuzzy white socks. Attached was a note:

_MERRY CHRISTMAS, HERMIONE!_

_Now I know these look like normal socks, and you’re probably wondering why on Earth someone has sent you socks for Christmas (who does that, right?) BUT these socks have been enchanted to change in temperature so your feet are always nice and cozy! Plus, they’re really comfortable in general so I thought you’d like them, especially since the castle seems to constantly change temperatures depending on where you go. I hope your Christmas is great._

_Miss you loads,_

_Mary MacDonald_

Immediately, Hermione removed her own socks and put on the socks Mary had sent her. A gasp escaped her mouth as the socks changed temperature and created a comfortable and relaxing sensation. Hermione wiggled her toes and grinned, they were definitely the coolest socks she had ever owned.

The next parcel was a very thin rectangular shape and scrawled across it was “To Hermione, From Lily.” Inside was a copy of the _Daily Prophet_ and a copy of _Witch Weekly_. Slightly confused, Hermione reached for the card that had been attached.

_Dear Hermione,_

_Happy Christmas! This may not seem like much but I promise that it’s more than it appears. I know how much you love reading the_ Daily Prophet _but you always wait until someone finishes theirs and then ask for it to read. So… I got you a subscription! Now you’ll be able to keep your own copy and be informed without someone always having to tell you what is happening. Also, Mary and I always read_ Witch Weekly _so I thought maybe you’d enjoy a subscription to that as well. I feel like it’s always smart to stay informed about what is happening in the wizarding world, particularly when we aren’t in it and are back with muggles, so I figured both of these would be useful…_

Lily’s letter then turned into an extension of all of her other letters. Meaning, a detailed description of everything going on with her and her family, particularly her complaining about Petunia being bitter that she was back. The letter went on for a while but Hermione appreciated the escape and view into Lily’s life with Harry’s relatives. She would be sure to save the letter for Harry. The subscriptions would also be useful.

The next gift was a lovely set of leather bound journals and a new set of quills and ink from both James and Sirius.

_Dear Hermione,_

_You’re always so academic and never stop taking notes (you go through more notebooks and rolls of parchment than anyone we know, and that includes Remus!) so we thought you should at least do it in style from now on. We hope you’re hanging in there at Hogwarts, it would have been cool to have you here. We hope you’re Christmas goes well and you enjoy the feast._

_Best,_

_James and Sirius_

_PS: This entire letter was written by James because Sirius is useless. But hey, I guess we love him anyways._

Hermione grinned at the letter and shook her head slightly.  The gift was actually very exciting to Hermione, she had been meaning to start documenting her time here, starting a diary of some sort, so the journals would be perfect for that.

To her surprise, even Peter had sent her a gift, a large bag of deluxe sugar quills. She was now relieved that she had sent him a box of chocolate frogs to add to his collection.

The last gift was rectangular and box shaped and when she picked it up she smiled at the weight of it, knowing that it could only be a book, and knowing it had to be from Remus. She was careful with the wrappings as to not damage the book. As she peeled away the paper and got a glimpse of the cover she let out a small shriek of joy and quickly removed the rest of the wrappings so she could get a whole look. He had remembered how much she loved _Hogwarts: A History._

_Dear Hermione,_

_First, I’d like to wish you a very happy Christmas! I hope you are holding up well at Hogwarts and I wish I could be there with you to keep you company, hopefully the feast will be worth staying for. It isn’t much but I remember you reading this in the library and you telling me that it was your favorite. If I am right with my assumption, you were reading the library’s copy so I guessed you didn’t have a copy of your own and thought you might want one._

_Also, I have some exciting news! Remember when I said I wasn’t sure about what I was going to do during holiday? Well, when I walked into Flourish and Blotts (that’s a bookstore in Diagon Alley in London, I’ve just realized that I have no idea if you’ve been there or not. If you haven’t you’d love it, especially the bookstore. If you ever want a tour, let me know.) – well anyway, when I walked into Flourish and Blotts to buy you the book there was a help wanted sign and I was able to get a part-time job during breaks! I’ve always wanted to work in a bookstore and they said they’d like someone part time to help with the rush they get when students aren’t at Hogwarts. So in a way that was a gift in its own to me. It’s absolutely perfect and I feel like I have you to thank in a way._

_Sorry, this letter has gotten very long and I’m sure you’ll want to get on with your Christmas. I look forward to seeing you in the New Year!_

_Yours,_

_Remus Lupin_

Hermione tightly clutched the book to her chest and allowed herself to smile as she embraced one of the few things that felt like home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Bing Crosby's "I'll be home for Christmas"


	16. Monster

* * *

Chapter 16 - Monster

* * *

“New year, new me!” said Sirius. He lounged back in his chair and propped his feet up on his desk, right in the middle of their Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, much to Hermione’s disapproval.

Hermione sent him an annoyed look that she hoped he interpreted as ‘get your feet off of the bloody desk’. He had started ever day like that since he returned from break and while she had believed it slightly amusing the first time, it was definitely not funny the fifth time. The teachers were obviously not impressed either since he had landed himself in detention twice already.

It had only gotten worse when Remus’s mother fell “ill” again two days ago and he had been away from classes after only three days of being back. Not only could Remus not control Sirius, but Sirius had been even more distracting and now she had two sets of notes to take.

“Mr. Black get your feet off of your desk and pay attention!” said Professor Warbeck, and Hermione heard James snort and she couldn’t help but grin as justice was served.

Reluctantly, Sirius removed his feet from the desk. Instead, he leaned closer to Hermione, James, and Peter. “My New Year’s resolution is to prove to you lot that I was right and she’s related to Celestine Warbeck.”

The three of them groaned. Ever since the first Hogsmeade trip he had been trying to convince them that their tiny professor was related to the singing sensation.

“Maybe your resolution should be to stop getting detention at least once every week,” hissed Hermione, annoyed that he kept distracting her from the class.

“No way, that’s a skill! Not a problem!” he whispered back.

“Mate, I think it’s time for you to throw in the towel,” said James under his breath.

“Oh?” said Sirius, arching his eyebrow.

Sirius had obviously taken this as a challenge and flashed a grin in their direction. Then, to their horror, Sirius’s hand flew into the air and he called out, “Professor, I have a question.”

Professor Warbeck almost did a double take as she took in Sirius, who never voluntarily participated. She stood up from her desk and walked over to where they were sitting.

“Yes, Mister Black?”

Sirius flashed a grin. “What’s your favorite type of music?”

If Professor Warbeck had been shocked by Sirius raising his hand, it was nothing compared to her visible surprise at the question. Hermione was already feeling the secondhand embarrassment coming as she anticipated where this was going.

“Would you say you liked music that was kind of… soulful, maybe even jazzy?” continued Sirius cheekily as the whole class stared at him.

“Get back to work, Mister Black,” said their professor, rolling her eyes.

“Oh come on, what’s wrong with music?” asked Sirius. “You must have a favorite singer… maybe even a… singing sorceress?”

Professor Warbeck’s eyes narrowed. “Mister Black, we are practicing non-verbal spells. That means I shouldn’t hear your mouth moving anymore.”

There were a few snickers throughout the room but Sirius was relentless. Across the room, sitting with Lily and the Hufflepuffs, Mary was staring daggers in Sirius’s direction.

“Are you or are you not related to Celestina Warbeck?” asked Sirius bluntly and the room burst into whispers.

“Detention, Mister Black. Tonight at seven.” sighed Professor Warbeck. “And if I hear one more peep from you for the rest of the class then your house loses points.”

Hermione swore that she heard Professor Warbeck mutter, “not how I wanted to spend my Friday night…” as she walked past them towards her desk.

~o~ 

When all of the day’s classes were finished Hermione sat in common room waiting for Remus to return from the Hospital Wing. She had both her notes and his notes from the past two days waiting in her bag so they could go over them when he returned like they did every time he missed class. In the meantime, she was reading from her Charms textbook trying to get ahead.

The common room was lively being that it was a Friday night. James and Peter were nowhere in sight and Sirius still hadn’t returned from his detention. Professor Warbeck was making him write lines and Hermione wondered how Sirius could stand to get detention as much as he did.

It wasn’t until close to curfew that Sirius made an appearance, grinning from ear to ear like Gryffindor had just won the House Cup and not like he just came from detention. When he spotted her sitting at one of the tables by the stairs he grinned even wider and walked towards her.

“Had a good detention, did we?” said Hermione sarcastically, setting her Charms book down on the table as he stopped beside her.

“Oh me and Felicia had a grand time,” said Sirius with a grin. He put his hand on the table and leaned against it. “And by that, she spent most of her time not in the room so it was a good chance for me to take a nap.”

Hermione’s mouth fell open. “You didn’t…”

“Of course not, Hermione,” said Sirius rolling his eyes. “I’m not _that_ dumb. I just spent most of my time doing nothing.”

Hermione pursed her lips. “Well, I’m glad to see that you’ve learned your lesson and learned the error of your ways.”

Sirius began to laugh and Hermione had to do her best to not laugh along with him.

“Oi, Sirius!” yelled a voice from the boys’ stairwell and Hermione and Sirius both turned, as did a few others in the common room. “Get up here already!”

Hermione recognized the voice of James and she frowned. “How did he know you were here?”

Sirius grinned. “Magic.”

“Right…” said Hermione, rolling her eyes.

“Hey, why don’t you come up with me?” said Sirius. “I want to show you something.”

Hermione bit her lip, feeling suspicious. “Something isn’t going to blow up on me is it?”

Sirius laughed and shook his head. “Not this time.”

Hermione followed him up the stairs to the Marauders’ dormitory. Inside Peter and James were both lounging on their beds. Peter seemed to be sorting through his collection of Chocolate Frog cards while James had two unusual objects beside him on his bed. A blank Marauders’ Map and a mirror.

It took Hermione a second to realize what the mirror was, but then she remembered Harry receiving one as a gift from Sirius. Harry had mentioned to her that the mirror Sirius had given him was part of a set that he and his father used to talk to each other when they were in separate detentions. That would explain why Sirius seemed so cheery, he probably had the other one in his bag and chatted to James the whole time. The map also explained how James knew Sirius was back in the common room, he had been waiting for him.

James and Peter both looked up as she walked into the dormitory after Sirius. Peter seemed shocked to see her there and immediately sat up straighter. James, on the other hand, regarded Sirius and Hermione curiously.

“Admiring yourself, James?” asked Hermione, gesturing her head towards the mirror.

James’s curious expression vanished and his face broke into a grin. “Oh you know it.”

“What are you doing up here?” asked Peter and Hermione raised her eyebrow at him, slightly offended. “Not meaning that in a rude way of course… just curious.”

“Sirius said he had to show me something,” said Hermione defensively.

“Ah, and that I do,” said Sirius with a smirk. He grabbed her under her elbow and began to lead her. “Follow me.”

He walked her over to his little area of the dormitory. “What do you think?” he said proudly as he gestured to the area.

Hermione was confused. She didn’t exactly know what she was supposed to be looking at other than his messy sleeping quarters. Half expecting a prank to happen, she sent Sirius a questioning look.

“What am I supposed to be seeing?” she asked.

Sirius gave a frustrated groan and grabbed both of Hermione’s arms from behind. Before she could protest, he turned her entire body towards the wall and pointed past her.

That’s when she saw what he was trying to show her. He had hung up the motorcycle poster she had gotten him for Christmas and she couldn’t help but smile.

“Oh, Sirius. I’m glad you liked it,” beamed Hermione, turning back towards him. “Sorry I missed it, I guess I hadn’t really noticed a change in the wall décor.”

She sat down on the edge of Sirius’s bed and he followed her, flopping down on his stomach making the whole mattress shake.

“Hang on,” said Sirius, arching his eyebrow. “You’ve been in here before?”

He looked around the room at Peter and James waiting for an answer.

“Not with me,” shrugged Peter.

“With me,” said James nonchalantly.

“What? When?” asked Sirius.

“Don’t be so dramatic, Sirius,” said Hermione, rolling her eyes. “It was on Halloween when I needed to borrow a scarf.”

Then, the door opened and Remus walked into the dormitory. He looked pale and rundown and his robes fell slightly crooked on him. His one shoulder was slightly exposed and Hermione noticed that his shoulder was wrapped again; he must have torn it open again during his transformation like he had last term.

When he spotted Hermione he stopped and quickly straightened his robes hiding the wound from sight. Hermione quickly averted her eyes from his shoulder and pretended to not have noticed anything, and if Remus had been suspicious that she had seen it, he didn’t show it. He did, however, look surprised to see her there, sitting on Sirius’s bed.

“Hermione,” he said, his eyes still wide. He looked between Hermione, the bed, and the other three boys as if he were trying to piece things together.

“Hello, Remus,” beamed Hermione, excited that he was back. There hadn’t had much time for her to catch up with him after the break as the full moon came so quickly and he was gone again. “It’s good to see you.”

A crooked grin spread across his face and he walked further into the room. “It’s good to see you too, but I must admit that I wasn’t expecting you to be here.”

“I invited her up,” said Sirius. “Plus the common room is unusually crowded tonight.”

“I noticed,” said Remus.

“He brought her up when he came back from detention,” said Peter.

Remus raised his eyebrow and looked at Sirius. “With whom?”

“Warbeck,” said James before Sirius could answer. “He tried to get her to confess to being related to Celestine Warbeck during class.”

“It was actually embarrassing to sit next to him,” said Hermione somberly, shaking her head.

Remus smacked himself in the forehead and Hermione stifled back a laugh.

“It was his third detention this week,” added Peter and Sirius sent him a look.

“Third!” gaped Remus, his mouth hanging open.

“It’s a skill, I say!” defended Sirius with a grin. “And my New Year resolution is to prove that she is related to her. It’s only the second week into 1977, do you already want me to fail?”

“Maybe your resolution should be to stop getting detention,” sighed Remus, rubbing his temples.

“That’s what I told him!” said Hermione and Remus looked over at her and grinned again and she smiled back.

“You lot are a bunch of bullies,” whimpered Sirius, flopping down on his mattress next to Hermione.

Hermione grinned down at him at how ridiculous he was being. And as much as she enjoyed watching the boys interact with each other, she did have plans to go over notes with Remus.

“Well, it’s getting late. Remus would you like to go discuss the notes that you missed?” she asked.

“Yes, let’s go.”

Hermione stood up and swung her bag over her shoulder.

“Have fun you two,” grinned Sirius, resting his chin on his hands, his feet swinging behind him on the bed. Remus rolled his eyes at him before turning to look at James, his eyes then fell on the map on James’s bed

“James, would you mind if I borrowed your parchment?” he said innocently.

“What?” said James, pulling the blank map closer to him. “Don’t you have your own?”

“You can never have too much. If I don’t end up using it I’ll return it,” reasoned Remus and James narrowed his eyes, reluctantly handing over the map. Hermione tried to hide her smirk at Remus’s attempt to make sure they weren’t followed. Or at least she assumed that’s why he wanted the map.

Remus cleared his throat and smiled at Hermione as he stuffed the map into his bag. “Alright, let’s go.”

Grinning to herself, Hermione waved goodbye to the other boys and followed Remus out of the dormitory,

It didn’t take them long to reach the unused classroom they usually went to after Remus returned. The castle was quiet now that it was after curfew and Hermione peered into the classroom to make sure no one else had decided to take a late night stroll there. It appeared empty and Hermione opened the door and stepped inside.

“Wait,” said Remus quietly. “I think I heard something….”

He stood in the threshold and looked both ways down the hallway, checking to see if people were coming. Hermione held her breath, Remus may not get in much trouble being out after curfew as a prefect but, unlike Sirius, she did not want to get detention. But she did have to admit, breaking the rules did give her a kind of rush and she enjoyed these secret note sharing sessions with Remus.

“I guess it was nothing,” said Remus after a moment and he carefully shut the classroom door behind them.

They walked over to the desks by the window, as to get the most natural light from the moonlight that poured through it. Only a few torches were lit in the room and they didn’t want to risk lighting the rest. Remus hopped up on one of the desks and Hermione sat on top of the desk opposite him.

“So what did I miss?” asked Remus with a grin. His green eyes seemed to sparkle in the moonlight that poured in through the windows.

“Well what do you want to go over first?” she asked as she removed the notes from her bag.

“Hmmm,” mused Remus. “How about Defense Against the Dark Arts. It is my favorite afterall.”

Hermione grinned to herself. Of course it would be his favorite. “I had a feeling it was.”

Remus grinned back at her. “Well it’s clearly the best. Do you not agree?”

“I’d say Arthimancy was my favorite actually,” said Hermione with a smile.

“Ah, I have a feeling it was as well,” said Remus with a nod. “We can start with that if you’d like.”

“Oh no, this is about you,” said Hermione, finding her Defense notes. “Besides, we’ve been studying non-verbal spells in Defense Against the Dark Arts and that’s something that will help with all of the wand-based subjects.”

Remus frowned as she handed him his notes and he began to flip through them. “That’s difficult magic, how is everyone holding up with it?”

“It’s not so bad,” shrugged Hermione. “James and I have managed to do some nonverbal spells so far but Peter seems to be struggling. Sirius is too busy harassing Warbeck to actually pay attention.”

At that, Remus smirked. “I can’t say I’m surprised.”

Hermione sighed. “He’s worse when you’re not around.”

“I’m sorry about that,” said Remus, slightly frowning again.

Hermione flushed. “Oh no, I’m not blaming you at all, Remus! Of course not, I didn’t mean to sound insensitive. I think it’s wonderful that you help your mother and it’s terrible how sick she gets… But it is so much nicer having you around.”

Her words managed to get him to half smile. Her heart ached as she wondered how he must be feeling.

“And not just because you keep Sirius in check… I’ve missed you, you know,” she found herself saying before she could stop herself. It just came out and she surprised herself with how much she meant it. It was almost overwhelming. “I was only able to see you for a little while before you had to leave.”

Now Remus fully smiled, a smile that made Hermione relax. “I’ve missed you too, it really was a shame that I was only back for three days before leaving again.”

“Hogwarts isn’t the same without you,” said Hermione. “I’m glad you and Lily wrote so much over break, it was nice. It made me feel less… alone.”

“I’m glad you wrote back,” said Remus earnestly. “My friends mean everything to me so writing to them over breaks is one of the few things that keeps me from going mad sometimes. I enjoy being home but it’s so much quieter and lonelier after being here for so long.”

Hermione’s heart grew warm at the way Remus talked about his friends. He truly was the most caring person she’s ever met. “You have a heart of gold, Remus Lupin.”

He grinned at her. “As do you, Hermione Dawson. But one good thing did come going home. I got that job at the bookstore. I’m still going to thank you for that.”

“I’d say you earned it by knowing the perfect thing to get me,” said Hermione. “I don’t think I properly thanked you for the book. It means more than I can tell you.”

She wished she could better explain to him how much she meant it but by the look in his eyes she had a feeling he understood.

“Of course,” said Remus warmly. “I’m just glad you like it, and also that you didn’t already have a copy.”

Hermione laughed. “Even if I did have a copy I would still have loved it. You can never have too many copies of your favorite book.”

“That’s true,” said Remus with a nod. “You could have a copy here and a copy for your house. If you keep getting copies then you could put one in every room.”

Hermione smiled at the thought of having enough copies of _Hogwarts: A History_ for each room in her house.

“We could have enough copies to give to our friends so we aren’t the only ones to have read it,” joked Hermione and Remus chuckled.

“Okay, we really should get back to work,” said Hermione through her own laughter. “Do you want to attempt a nonverbal spell?

“It’s worth a shot,” said Remus casually.

He set his notes down on the table beside him and pointed his wand at them. His eyes narrowed and Hermione could tell that he was concentrating hard on his notes, and Hermione assumed he was trying to levitate them, or at least that’s what she hoped he was doing. The last thing she wanted was for them to burst into flames. After a moment of nothing happening he lowered his wand and pursed his lips.

“It would have been remarkable to be able to do that on your first attempt,” said Hermione kindly.

Remus shrugged. The small movement caused his robes to slightly fall off of his shoulder, exposing the bandages underneath. He didn’t seem to notice it but Hermione stared at the bandages. His wound must have reopened because red splotches were slowly appearing on the white cloth.

“I guess it was a long shot—”

“Remus,” interrupted Hermione cautiously, “your shoulder…”

Remus quickly looked down at his exposed shoulder and immediately stood up from the desk when he saw the blood. Hermione stood up as well and took a step closer to him but when he saw her approach him he quickly took a step backwards and stumbled into another desk.

“I-I can explain how I got this while I was away…” stammered Remus, trying to cover up his hurt shoulder as if Hermione would forget about it if she couldn’t see it anymore.

“Remus, stop moving away, you’re hurt,” said Hermione with worry. She took another step forward and this time Remus couldn’t move away due to being against a desk. “You’re bleeding.”

Gently, she reassuringly placed her hand on Remus’s arm, who shuddered at her touch. She looked into his scared eyes and could visibly see him holding his breath as he anticipated her response.

“I tripped in one of the corridors earlier… I was too busy worrying about my mum and wasn’t paying attention to where I was going… When I fell I cut my shoulder open on a suit of armor and I didn’t want to bother Madam Pomfrey so I just patched myself up with some cloth and gauze,” he said lamely.

It was a weak story and she could tell that he knew it as well. There was a sense of pleading in his green eyes that silently begged her to accept his story. Pity swelled up inside her and she had to turn her attention away from his eyes for a moment before she’d start crying. She knew the last thing he would want was her pity.

“It isn’t bleeding too badly,” she said, taking a step back and avoiding Remus’s gaze. “You should probably go to Madam Pomfrey and have her replace the bandages.”

He hastily began to agree when his expression went blank and he took a step away from her.

“Replace the bandages…” repeated Remus quietly under his breath.

In that moment, Hermione realized that she had misspoken and her stomach dropped. Regular wounds wouldn’t need bandages in the wizarding world, it would be a simple fix, but not ones caused by a werewolf. Not ones that were cursed.

“Oh! Obviously Madam Pomfrey would be able to just heal it…” Hermione added quickly, feeling her face drain of color. “No need for more bandages. You know, sometimes I still forget how extraordinary magic truly is.”

But from one look at Remus’ face she knew that he wasn’t buying it. She had a feeling she wouldn’t be able to pass it off as a slip of the tongue or a simple mistake due to being muggle-born. He knew her too well.

She looked back into Remus’s eyes and saw the same intensity in his face that she saw from his adult self in the Department of Mysteries when he had told her to run. It was a look of pain and fear that pooled through his green eyes that shook her to her core.

“You don’t… do you kno-?” he stammered as he gripped the desk from behind him so tightly that his knuckles turned white, and she could see that his hands shaking slightly.

“I-I don’t know what you’re referring to,” said Hermione. She turned away from him and looked out the window at the no longer full moon and hoped he’d let the conversation drop. Soon he’s go back to thinking she didn’t know anything and they could be friends again. She didn’t want to ruin everything after how close they’d gotten, she didn’t think she could bear to lose him.

There was a long pause and the only sound coming from the room was from the wind blowing over the grounds outside. Hermione knew by the look that had been on Remus’s face that he wasn’t just going to pretend this never happened.

With a sigh, she turned back towards him and gave him her most sympathetic, almost pleading look. “Oh Remus… I swear I won’t tell anyone.”

His eyes widened and he released the desk he was gripping and instead silently sat down on top of it in a defeated sort of way and closed his eyes.

“You know,” he said in a voice that was too calm.

Hermione took a deep breath and slowly walked over to where Remus was sitting and sat on the desk across from him. She noticed him peeking through his eyes as he watched her sit across from him but he didn’t make eye contact.

“Yes,” was all she could manage to say.

He looked up at her with a mixture of confusion and fear. “Why haven’t you gone running to tell everyone my secret? I’m dangerous, I’m a _monster_.” He spat the last word out with enough venom that it caused her to flinch.

Her mouth fell open in astonishment that someone as kind and compassionate as he could think so little of himself. “You are not a monster, Remus! You are far from one!”

The amber torchlight reflected in his eyes and she noticed that they were watering up. “But I am a monster, Hermione! I’m- I’m a _werewolf_!”

He had done it. He had finally said the word the two of them had been avoiding saying since the revelation of his condition.

There was a moment of silence and she could hear his quick paced breathing in the quiet room.

“That doesn’t make you a monster, Remus,” said Hermione, her own voice shaking as she held back tears.

His face was now in his hands and he wouldn’t look at her. “How long have you known?”

When she didn’t response right away he looked up, his green eyes blazing. “How long? How did you find out?”

His voice was hard and icy. There was a hint of anger, fear, and bewilderment in it that she had never heard before. It made her want to run, but she didn’t know whether she wanted to run away or run to comfort him. Instead, Hermione stayed where she was and swallowed hard before speaking.

“Where I’m from, we were taught very specifically what to look for when identifying the signs of lycanthropy,” she said cautiously. “I’ve had my suspicions ever since the first full moon of the term. Just little hints here and there… and also that your nickname happens to be Moony.”

She gave him a weak smile which he did not return and her face fell.

“I _am_ a monster, Hermione,” he said darkly. “What you must think of me...”

“That doesn’t change who you are, Remus!” said Hermione, practically begging him to understand that she wasn’t afraid of him. “Or what you mean to me! You’re still my friend no matter what, that won’t change!”

Remus’s mouth fell open and his wet eyes released a single tear that slowly slipped down his pale face. The moonlight that poured into the room reflected off of it as it fell from his face and hit his robes. He shut his mouth and rolled his neck before turning away from her and choked out a short sob before regaining his composure.

Hermione made a move forward to comfort him but he suddenly jumped of the table. The quick movement startled her and she took a step back. She realized her mistake immediately as he misinterpreted her surprise as fear and his eyes went wide.

“I have to get out of here…” he half whispered in a broken voice.

Before Hermione could stop him he quickly shoved his notes into his bag and rushed for the door.

“Remus, where are you going?” called out Hermione, she could hear the desperation in her own voice.

“I need to get out of here, I need to think,” he muttered quickly as he strode past her.

“Remus!” she called as she whipped around to face him but it was too late.

He had already gone out the door.

.:~*~*~*~*~:. 

“Do you dare me to put all of these in my mouth at once?” asked James.  
He held out his hand to show Sirius and Peter a colorful assortment of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans.

“That is going to taste disgusting,” said Peter with a grimace from his four-poster bed.

Sirius, on the other hand, stopped reading his motorcycle magazine and looked at James as if Christmas had just come again.

“If you do it and manage to not spew all over our dormitory, Prongs, I’ll give you a Galleon,” said Sirius. He got off of his bed and went to his trunk and dug through it. He reappeared with a shiny gold Galleon resting in the palm of his hand.

James smirked at his best friend. “I think I’ll accept that challenge.”

He was now about to be one Galleon richer.

With Sirius and Peter eagerly looking on, James shoved the handful of beans into his mouth and bit down.

There was an odd mixture of delightful fruity flavors with a hint of sweaty socks. Soon bad flavors became overwhelming and he had to concentrate hard on trying to swallow them. It tasted _AWFUL._

But he wasn’t going to spit the lump of disgusting beans out, no.

He was going to win that Galleon.

His eyes watered and he stared down Sirius as he chewed more forcefully to show his  
dominance; which ironically made Sirius’s grin widen. Peter looked a little green.

After a few more moments, James swallowed the beans and wiped his tears away before pushing himself into a standing position on his bed.

“I am King of the beans,” he declared with his hands on his hips.

A scoff came from Sirius’s bed. “More like bean brain,” he said as he threw the Galleon and James swiftly dodged it. It barely missed hitting James’s Gryffindor banner as it hit the wall and fell to the floor.

At that moment, the dormitory door swung open with such force that it slammed into the wall creating such a loud bang that caused Peter to jump.

Remus stood on the threshold with his green eyes wet and as wide as plates. He was breathing heavily, as if he were running from something.

James had been slightly put off that Remus had taken the Marauder’s map when he left earlier. It was as though Remus hadn’t trusted him not to follow him and Hermione. Remus obviously hadn’t even used the map since he didn’t notice James following the two of them under his invisibility cloak until Remus had closed the classroom door on him.

But James didn’t even think about that now as Remus stood ash faced in the doorway. The only thing he could focus on was how worried he was for Remus.

“Remus?” asked Peter cautiously. He sat up a little straighter on his bed and looked at Remus with a worried expression.

“She knows,” breathed Remus, not even moving.

“Remus, what’s the matter?” asked James urgently. He dropped into a sitting position on his bed and bounced a few times. “What’s happened?”

“Hermione knows,” said Remus, a little bit louder that time.

“She knows you have a crush on her?” asked Sirius, who had gone back to reading his magazine.

Remus looked at him with a bewildered expression. “What? What are you—I don’t have a crush on her…”

“Oh… right…” said Sirius, trying to hide a smirk.

There was an awkward silence while Remus looked confused before he shook his head. “She _knows._ ”

The emphasis on Remus’s last word struck James with a realization.

“She knows you’re a werewolf,” he said and Remus flinched at his statement, confirming his suspicion.

Peter gasped and Sirius put his magazine down and looked startled.

“ _You told her_?” gaped Sirius.

Remus shook his head. “She knew. She said she’s known since the first full moon of the term when I missed class.”

“And she just brought this up to you randomly?” asked Peter looking horrorstruck.

“No, my- my shoulder,” said Remus. He pulled his robes slightly to reveal the white bandages on his shoulder with spots of fresh blood on them. “The cut opened and my robes weren’t completely covering it. She noticed it bleeding, and Hermione… well… Hermione’s no fool; Madam Pomfrey would be able to heal wounds in an instant… but not cursed ones.” 

James stared at Remus’s frightened expression, at a loss for words.

“What are we going to do?” asked Sirius, his face was pale and emotionless.

“We can’t let her know,” said Peter.

“It’s already too late for that…” said James. His mind was racing as he tried to think of a solution.

“One of you could obliviate her! Wipe her memory!” said Peter urgently. “James, use the map and find her!”

“Are you mad, Wormtail?!” said Sirius, with his eyes wide. The atmosphere in the room grew tense in that instant.

“Do you have a better idea, Sirius?” demanded Peter with a fearful look in his beady eyes.

“Well, no—but we can’t just go around obliviating people!” said Sirius, looking aghast.

James, on the other hand, wondered if that could work. Right now his priority was protecting Remus, but then he felt sick at even imagining the possibility of him having to do that, or anyone doing it. “I don’t even know how to properly wipe a memory,” he said honestly. He only knew the incantation, he couldn’t risk doing Hermione harm.

Peter began to argue and soon James, Peter, and Sirius were all fighting over how they would deal with the situation.

“Quiet!” yelled Remus, who was still standing by the door, looking pale and shaking slightly. “No one is obliviating anyone!”

The room grew eerily quiet, the only sound was the whistle of the wind from outside the window and the occasional pop from the heating stove in the center of the room.

“We’re… we’re not obliviating Hermione,” said Remus with finality. “There has to be a better way to deal with this…”

Peter looked down at his hands. His face had gone red with shame and James felt kind of bad for the bloke.

“What do you supposed we do, Moony?” said Sirius, looking grave.

“I-I,” babbled Remus, a wild and desperate look still haunted his eyes. “I don’t know…”

“If she’s known the whole time why hasn’t she said anything yet?” wondered James out loud and Remus just shrugged but stayed quiet.

“I don’t think she’s going to tell anyone. Not if she’s known this long,” said Sirius. “Maybe we can trust her?”

“I don’t know…” said Peter.

“I guess we’ll have to wait and see,” said Remus somberly.

And the rest of them nodded.


End file.
